Sealed in USPS original packaging. Mint. MNH. No flaws. From a Smoke-free and Pet-free Environment.

On May 23, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service issued these sheets of Civil War: 1863 self-adhesive Forever stamps – to continue its 5-year commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War - with these two stamp designs: the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Vicksburg. The two locations for the first day of issue were the Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi and the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Civil War Sesquicentennial stamp series was designed by art director Phil Jordan of Falls Church, VA.

This collectible sheet includes 12 Forever stamps (2 on one side and 10 on the other) in two different stamp designs – one depicting the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war – and one depicting the Battle of Vicksburg, a complex Union campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River. The Battle of Gettysburg stamp is a reproduction of an 1887 chromolithograph by Thure de Thulstrup (1848-1930), a Swedish-born artist who became an illustrator for Harper's Weekly after the Civil War; and The Battle of Vicksburg stamp is a reproduction of an 1863 lithograph by Currier & Ives titled "Admiral Porter's Fleet Running the Rebel Blockade of the Mississippi at Vicksburg, April 16th, 1863."

The background image on this 1863 souvenir sheet is a photograph taken by Mathew Brady (shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg) of captured Confederate soldiers, who reportedly posed for Bray on Seminary Ridge. The souvenir sheet also includes comments on the war by Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, Rufus R. Dawes (a Union soldier), and William Tunnard (a Confederate soldier), as well as some of the lyrics of “Lorena,” a popular Civil War song by Henry D. L. Webster and Joseph P. Webster.

Scott # 4787 - 4788

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