Post Office Will Issue Civil War Commemorative Stamps
Not to be outdone by the U.S. Mint and its offering of Civil War commemorative quarters, the U.S. Postal Service will issue two Civil War commemorative stamps per year from 2011 through 2015. The first two stamps in the series will be available on April 12th, 2011, the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. Update: For information on the 2012 stamps click here.
Appropriately enough, one stamp is a reproduction of a Currier and Ives lithograph of the firing on Fort Sumter in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina by Confederate forces on April 12th, 1861, the opening shots of the Civil War.
The other stamp is a reproduction of painting by artist Sidney King called “The Capture of Rickett’s Battery”, an event that occurred during the First Battle of Bull Run, or First Manassas. This battle on July 21,1861 was the first large scale land engagement of the war, and swept away the notion held by many on both sides that it would be a quick war with few casualties.
Confederate forces captured the six gun artillery battery of Captain James B. Ricketts in fierce fighting on Henry Hill. The painting that is reproduced for the stamp can be seen at the Henry Hill Visitor Center at Manassas National Battlefield Park near Manassas, Virginia.
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#1.How can I find out what the 2012 Civil War Stamps will be? ___
#2. Is it possible to submit a suggestion/proposal for a Civil War 2012 stamp — or is it too late? ____
Thank you.
I have just visited Perryville, Kentucky Battlefield and wholeheartedly wish to submit/nominate it for a 2012 stamp — October 8, 1862. Until this summer when I was retracing my greatgrandfather’s Civil War Battles, I had NEVER ever even heart of it. Yet it’s an “A” principal battle (in official list) and the “high water mark” of the Confederacy. “Never again would the chance of winning the war be so great for the South.” As Abraham Lincoln said, “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game…”
As of the beginning of August, the Postal Service has not announced the subjects of the 2012 Civil War stamps. The 2011 stamp artwork was chosen by the USPS art director, so I assume the choices for 2012 will be based on both significant events of 1862 as well as the availabilty of attractive artwork depicting the events.