Addressed to prominent South Carolinian James Simons

Postally used Confederate envelope addressed in ink to James Simons, Esqr., Solic[ito]r., Charleston, S.C., with Aiken, S.C., Jan. 8 postmark, and 10 cents Jeff Davis postage stamp. Very fine homemade cover made from a piece of stationary with partial wax seal visible on the reverse.

James Simons: (1813-79) Son of a Revolutionary War officer and state representative, he attended Pendleton Academy, the College of Charleston, and was an honor graduate of the University of South Carolina in 1833. He became a prominent Charleston lawyer and politician, serving as Speaker of the South Carolina House, from 1850-61. Simons, a militia officer since 1833, had attained the rank of brigadier general by 1858. During the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861, he was a brigadier general of militia commanding Morris Island. He later resigned his commission in a huff over a dispute with Governor Pickens claiming that his honor had been impugned and that he had not been given command and authority commensurate with his rank. Simons carried on a bitter vendetta against Pickens for months and actually volunteered as a private in an artillery unit until ill health forced him to resign. After the war he continued his lucrative Charleston law practice.