I. D. Chapman, a Confederate prisoner of war imprisoned in Elmira, New York, mailed this letter to William Chapman at the Harrisonville, Maryland Post Office in Baltimore County. The cover was examined (censored) and the oval handstamp of the examiner applied but not initialed or signed as required. The Elmira circular date stamp was applied on Dec. 5, 1864 on Scott No. 65. A pen date of Dec. 4, 1864 was added. The contents are missing.

Israel Chapman of the 23rd Virginia Infantry Company H was captured at Harpers Ferry on July 8, 1864 and sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC, until transferred to Elmira where he died of diarrhea on Oct. 25, 1864. He is buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery grave #858. He had enlisted in Company H at Wytheville on April 1, 1863.