Object Details
- Description
- All express company instructions for northbound letters were basically the same. All northbound mail was collected by one of three express companies at Nashville, Tennessee. Letters properly addressed but without any postage affixed were to be enclosed in a plain envelope with the appropriate express fee. The outer envelope was then addressed to one the northern express offices, in this case Adams Express in Louisville, Kentucky. The Confederate postage was required to be paid from the place of mailing to Nashville. Adams Express then carried the letter across the lines to their offices in Louisville where the correct US postage was applied prior to being places in the US mails.
- The Adams Express fee for northbound mail was 25 cents for a letter of one-half ounce or less. This rate, equivalent to “two bits,” was represented by the "2/" manuscript marking at the top of the cover.
- This letter originated in Richmond August 8, 1861. It traveled to Nashville and then across the lines to the Louisville, Kentucky, Adams Express office where it received the Express marking as well as the blue Louisville Aug 13 double circle cancels. It was posted there with a 3c 1857 stamp tied with a blue Louisville grid. It was addressed to William C[abell] Rives Jr Esq in Boston but apparently he was not there. Thus the letter was forwarded to Caldwell, New York, to where he presumably had traveled. There is a manuscript pencil "Ford [forwarded] 3" at top left as well as a handstamped "Due 3 cents" which has been crossed out and "Due 6 cts." struck below. Dated contents docketing indicated at left "4 Aug 1861".
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- August 8, 1861
- Medium
- paper; ink
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 2 3/4 x 5 1/8 in. (6.99 x 13.02 cm)
- Type
- Covers & Associated Letters
