Colonel of the 25th North Carolina Infantry

Severely wounded in 1864 at the Battle on the Weldon Railroad, Virginia

U.S. Congressman and Senator from North Carolina

(1812-97) Born at Huntsville, North Carolina. He graduated from N.C. State University in 1832, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. He then started a political career, first in the North Carolina State Legislature, and then as a U.S. Congressman, 1843-45, and 1847-58. He was then elected U.S. Senator in 1860. When the Civil War began, he left Washington but did not resign his seat in the Senate; and was one of ten Southern senators expelled in absentia on July 11, 1861. Clingman was commissioned colonel of the 25th North Carolina Infantry, and appointed brigadier general, May 17, 1862, and commanded Clingman's Brigade which consisted of the 8th, 31st, 51st and 61st North Carolina Infantry Regiments. He served in the 1862 Virginia Peninsula campaign, and in North and South Carolina at Goldsboro, and Battery Wagner. In the spring of 1864 his brigade was ordered to Virginia, where he saw action at Cold Harbor, Drewry's Bluff, and Petersburg. In the battle on the Weldon Railroad in August 1864, he was severely wounded. His next service was at Fort Fisher and Bentonville, N.C., and he surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston's Army, to General William T. Sherman, on April 27, 1865, at the Bennett House at Durham Station, N.C. He died in Morganton, North Carolina, on October 3, 1897, and was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina.

Signature: 3 1/2 x 1 1/2, in ink, "Free, T.L. Clingman." This is what is known as a "free frank" signature, cut from the top portion of an envelope, written when Clingman served in the U.S. Congress. Congressional members were allowed to sign their names at the top of an envelope with the word "Free" written above it. This would allow them to get the privilege of free postage on items that they mailed. Written below Clingman's signature, in another hand is, Thos. L. Clingman, Senator for N. Carolina. Light age toning and wear.