The Brandon Collection of Confederate States, Part 2 continued...

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VERY FINE. AN IMPORTANT ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY COVER SENT DURING THE TRANSITION FROM THE PRECURSOR PERIOD TO ADVERTISED ACROSS-THE-LINES SERVICE IN MID-JUNE 1861. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF CIVIL WAR EXPRESS MAIL DIVERTED TO THE UNITED STATES DEAD LETTER OFFICE.

On June 15, 1861, the American Letter Express Co. was the first to advertise its across-the-lines service. On June 22 the Adams Express Co. and M. D. Whiteside advertised their competing express services. Express covers carried across the lines by Adams prior to the first advertisements are evidence that service pre-dated the announced commencement date. These are known as Precursor express covers (see Special Route, Chapter 3).

This cover is a remarkable use of Adams across-the-lines service right at the transition from the Precursor period to advertised service. It was mailed from Nashville on June 15 and datestamped by the Nashville post office and by Adams Nashville office on the same day. This is one full week before the June 22 commencement date advertised by Adams. Obviously, Adams was moving letters between Louisville and Nashville earlier than announced in their North-South express ads, and one of the letter enclosures in this cover mentions using Adams due to the interruption of regular mails. Another example from this transitional period is the cover addressed to Louisville with the Adams Vicksburgh, Mississippi, office oval dated June 11 (lot 58 in this sale).

On the cover offered here, the 5c C.S.A. postage was paid in Nashville, but the U.S. 3c entire was considered invalid by the U.S. post office once it entered the mails (at Louisville or possibly further north). At this early date, there must have been some confusion about how to prepay U.S. postage once the letter crossed the lines. In this case, it was determined to be unpaid and sent to the U.S. Dead Letter Office. It was marked "Due 3 cts" and released July 16 (the date of the U.S. Dead Letter Office oval). The Special Routes book describes this cover as the only recorded example of an express cover that was diverted to the U.S. Dead Letter office (pages 36-37).

The enclosures in this cover were written by a Mr. E. Holcomb and Ginie Warren (daughter of the addressee, Hannah L. Warren). Holcomb states "If you do not get any further letters from our dear Ginie shortly, don't be uneasy. So much information is sent to our enemies by private letters to friends, falling into the hands of treacherous agents & postmasters, that our government has resolved to stop mails between here & the North altogether, untill we shall have given Lincolns Hessians two or three more whippings..." Ginie, who decided to remain in the South, mentions that "all letters coming from the South are sent to the dead letter office" and informs her mother that "We must take advantage of Adams Express and send them through with an increase of twenty five cents postage on the original three..." In closing Ginie proclaims, "I would rather remain in the South and take the fate of the South... I love my home too, my native state is the dearest spot on earth, but the South is the land of my adoption."

Illustrated in Special Routes (page 36), Census No. N-AD-1. Ex Boshwit (Image)

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VERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY VICKSBURG OFFICE DATESTAMP AND A REMARKABLE SOUTH-TO-NORTH EXPRESS COVER WITH AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE VICKSBURG POSTAL CLERK.

Frank N. Hammett is listed in the 1860 Vicksburg city directory as a clerk in the post office. He later served as a sergeant in the Army of Northern Virginia, 48th Mississippi Regiment, Company G, and was among the officers who surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865. This cover appears to be addressed and endorsed entirely in Hammett's hand, including the "Paid 2/-" (2 bits, or 25c) express rate notation. It is not known if Hammett was employed by the Adams Express Company.

This is the only Adams Vicksburg express office cover recorded in the Special Routes census (N-PRE-22). Because it pre-dates the first Adams advertisements for across-the-lines service, it is classified as a Precursor period cover. However, the elements present in this cover -- the Adams datestamp, C.S.A. and U.S. postage, and use across the lines from Nashville to Louisville -- are no different than any of the covers dated onward from June 15.

Ex Shenfield and Judd (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE EARLY PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM A CHAPLAIN IN THE UNION ARMY CAPTURED AT THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN AND HELD AT LIGON'S TOBACCO WAREHOUSE IN RICHMOND. ONLY THREE ACROSS-THE-LINES EXPRESS COVERS FROM PRISONERS ARE RECORDED -- ALL NORTHBOUND FROM UNION CAPTIVES IN THE CONFEDERATE PRISON AT RICHMOND.

This and two other covers are the earliest examples of mail sent from Ligon's Tobacco Warehouse in Richmond, where Union captives from First Manassas were held by Confederates. The three covers are Special Routes Census Nos. N-AD-53 (the cover offered here -- Richmond Aug. 3, Adams Louisville Aug. 6, Louisville post office Aug. 7), N-AD-55 (letter dated July 24, Richmond date unclear, Adams Louisville and post office Aug. 7), and N-AD-56 (Richmond Aug. 4, Adams Louisville and post office Aug. 7). The three covers were datestamped at the Adams Louisville office on two different days, but placed into the mails on the same day, August 7.

Special Routes Census No. N-AD-53 (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE SOUTH-TO-NORTH ACROSS-THE-LINES ADAMS EXPRESS COVER SENT FROM NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, ONE DAY PRIOR TO THE RELEASE OF THE POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL STAMPS.

Nashville is one of the few Confederate towns or cities from which Adams Express across-the-lines covers with adhesive Postmasters' Provisional stamps are known (Memphis, Mobile, Nashville and New Orleans). Eight are recorded with the 5c or 10c Nashville adhesive provisional and U.S. stamps used together (a ninth Adams cover has the 10c stamp used alone). Two of the 5c combination covers, as well as the cover offered here, are from the Knowles correspondence to Rhode Island. This cover is interesting, because it was datestamped by the Adams office on July 18, one day prior to the issuance of Postmaster McNish's 5c and 10c provisional stamps. Since the stamps were not yet available, the cover was simply handstamped "Postage Paid."

Special Routes Census No. N-AD-26. (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF FIVE RECORDED ADAMS EXPRESS COVERS WITH THE INSTRUCTION LABEL FOR MAILING LETTERS TO THE CONFEDERATE STATES. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE 3-CENT 1857 STAMP.

Special Routes Census No. N-AD-41 (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. AN OUTSTANDING AND RARE DOUBLE-RATE ADAMS EXPRESS ACROSS-THE-LINES COVER WITH UNITED STATES POSTAGE NOT RECOGNIZED ON ARRIVAL AT THE NEW YORK CITY POST OFFICE.

Adams made extensive use of its own distribution network and relied less on the postal systems for delivery. Initially, Adams' southbound mails were collected at New York, Baltimore or Boston and bagged for delivery to the major distributing offices in the C.S.A. at Augusta, Memphis or Knoxville. Northbound mails were apparently handled similarly in the reverse direction. These bags were not opened in transit through Louisville or Nashville, so surviving letters carry no express markings from either city unless they originate from them. On July 4, 1861, the C.S.A. seized all of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad rolling stock in Tennessee, so the trains no longer crossed the lines. From this point forward, couriers carried the mail across the lines on horseback. This also entailed a change in how Adams handled its express mail, as Louisville increasingly became the major distributing office for both northbound and southbound mail. Accordingly, Adams' Louisville express markings begin to appear on all southbound mail starting around July 17 and on all northbound mail starting around July 4.

As this letter shows, Adams would affix U.S. stamps at Louisville before placing them into the U.S. post office. In this case, the stamps were postmarked at Louisville, but on arrival in New York they were not recognized, and the letter was marked 6c postage due. The writer mentions an enclosure to be forwarded to Havana, which explains the double rate for weight.

Ex Brown, Brooks and Hall (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF THREE RECORDED QUADRUPLE-RATE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY COVERS WITH THE 12-CENT 1859 ISSUE.

The Special Routes census lists three across-the-lines express covers with the 12c 1859 Issue. Two are quadruple 3c rates with a single 12c stamp (N-AD-17 and N-AD-32). The third is addressed to France with the 12c used with other 1857 Issue values (N-AD-65), which realized $185,000 hammer in our Sale 981 (lot 4123).

Special Routes Census No. N-AD-17. Ex Sevenoaks. With 1989 P.F. certificate (Image)

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