About This Stamp
The Civil War (1861-1865), the most wrenching chapter in American history, claimed the lives of more than 620,000 soldiers. Continuing its commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the war, the Postal Service is issuing a souvenir sheet of two stamp designs for 2012.
One stamp depicts the Battle of New Orleans, which was marked on April 24, 1862, by the heroics of Flag Officer David G. Farragut, soon to become the U.S. Navy’s first full admiral.
The other stamp depicts the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North that resulted in the bloodiest day of the war on September 17, 1862.
Art director Phil Jordan created the stamps using iconic images of the battles. The Battle of New Orleans stamp is a reproduction of an 1862 colored lithograph by Currier & Ives titled "The Splendid Naval Triumph on the Mississippi, April 24th, 1862." It depicts Admiral David G. Farragut’s fleet passing Forts Jackson and St. Phillip on the way toward New Orleans.
The Battle of Antietam stamp is a reproduction of an 1887 painting by Thure de Thulstrup. The painting was one of a series of popular prints commissioned in the 1880s by Boston publisher Louis Prang & Co. to commemorate the Civil War.
The background image on the souvenir sheet is a photograph of Union soldiers in the vicinity of Fair Oaks, Virginia, circa June 1862.
The souvenir sheet includes comments on the war by David G. Farragut, James C. Steele, Walt Whitman, and the New York Times. It also includes some of Charles Carroll Sawyer’s lyrics from the popular 1862 song “Weeping, Sad and Lonely,” or "When This Cruel War Is Over" (music composed by Henry Tucker).
The Battle of New Orleans and Battle of Antietam stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive souvenir sheets of 12 (6 of each design). Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. At the time of issuance, the stamps are being sold at a price of 45 cents each, or $5.40 per sheet.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Phil Jordan
Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.