1861 Three Cent Stamp On Envelope-With Letter

Found in my mother's stuff after she died. She had relatives in Iowa and they would be the source of the letter. The letter was written by a crewman of the U.S. Steamer "Somersett". The ship was part of the Union navy's blockade off the coast of Florida in 1861-64. that gunboat saw a lot of action during the war, as illustrated in Wikipedia. The letter is a three page detailed account of their capture of the British cargo ship Circassian off the coast of Cuba. I have just begun to investigate and imagine there is some historical value to the piece but, beyond that, I wonder about the "stamp value" of the envelope. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

The "stamp" value is negligible. The use from Key West FL adds interest but the condition is bad. Value here is definitely in the letter.

The letter looks like it was made with a modern pencil, but what do I know.

Very nice !

Building upon what Paddle_More says, I have some questions about the letter and upwards writing on the envelope. On the envelope it appears to say in part "read Nov 1901". When reading the portions of the letter visible in the posted pics you can see a lot of quotation marks visible as if someone was copying text from the original document? Why is the envelope addressed in ink that is true to the period and why is the writing much different and again reflective of the period and the letter written in pencil (is it?) and in a different style?

Spek, it appears that you have quite a nice piece of postal history pertaining to Civil War history. It is very fortunate that the contents are still with the cover. I would suggest contacting the Florida Postal History Society, proceed to the contacts list, and phone the name at the top of the contacts list. I know the fellow and he will be glad to steer you to additional information regarding your cover.

Thanks you all for your input. I'll research this further.

Thanks Chevelle for the Florida tip. I will follow up.

Why not post a ful scan of the letter here?
The collective knowledge of the members here is often quite amazing and fast.

Here is the full scan of the letter:

Further to Chevele's tip about the Florida Postal History Society, here is a reply from them:

Regarding your Key West cover cancelled May 12, 1862.
Key West remained under Union control for the entire Civil War and processed a considerable volume of mail given its small size and sparse population. Being an island, mail was carried by ship with the interval between deliveries often being two to four weeks. Henry Albury was the Postmaster from 03.07.1861 till 10.13.1865. Three cancels were used at Key West during the Civil War. In 1861 when Florida seceded Key West was using a small double circle cancel which is considered the "Confederate State Period" cancel". In early 1862 the large balloon cancel on your cover began being used and continued into 1864. During 1863 a larger version of the double circle cancel began use and continued through 1865.
The Scott #65 stamp on your cover is commonly seen, I believe something like 3 billion were printed during the Civil War.