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Generally Speaking.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War drawing to a close, the U-S will end its
stamp series with two more: One commemorates the Battle of Five Forks — which sealed
the Confederacy’s fate — and the other, the Surrender at Appomattox, eight days later.

The Civil War’s major players have been noted postally many times. Even Jefferson Davis,
the president of the Confederacy, was honored 20 years ago.

Before this year, General Robert E. Lee had been on five U-S postage stamps, General
Ulysses Grant twice as many.  But some Grant’s stamps are because he was later President,
and he also appears on a large number of revenue stamps, particularly for tobacco
products. That’s ironic: He was a heavy cigar smoker who eventually died of throat cancer.

Grant’s first stamp appeared five years after his death, while Lee wasn’t honored by the
country he fought against until 1957 — although he’s on an earlier stamp for Washington
and Lee University.

The hero of the Battle of Five Forks was General Phil Sheridan. He’s only been on one
other U-S stamp, part of the Army-Navy series of 1936 and 37... and he had to share that
stamp with Grant and General William Sherman, both better known heroes of the Civil War.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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