The Steven Walske Collection of North American Blockade Run Mail continued...

VERY FINE COVER DESPITE STAMP FLAW. AN EXTREMELY RARE BLOCKADE-RUN COVER THROUGH MATAMOROS, MEXICO, TO WASHINGTON TEXAS, VIA HAVANA, GALVESTON AND HOUSTON.

Brownsville, the logical point for this cover to enter Texas, was occupied by Federal forces from November 6, 1863, to July 20, 1864. This necessitated mail traveling by a different route, in this case via Havana and Galveston, Texas. The U.S.S. South Carolina initiated a blockade of Galveston on July 2, 1861. U.S. forces occupied Galveston Bay from September 30, 1863, to January 1, 1864, so no blockade running occurred during that period. Only seven incoming blockade covers are listed in the Special Routes census, all postmarked at Houston between January 29, 1864, and March 1, 1865. All known covers were carried under cover and posted by a forwarder in Houston with 10c C.S.A. postage prepaid, unless the letter was addressed to Houston. The surrender of Galveston on June 2, 1865, ended all blockade running.

A cover from the same correspondence as this one, with the same Mexican markings and mailed six days later, was routed through Port Lavaca and Concrete, Texas (ex Wishnietsky, Siegel Sale 1064, lot 355, realized $24,000 hammer).

Ex "Camina". With 1994 C.S.A. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE AND RARE EXAMPLE OF TRANSATLANTIC MAIL CARRIED FROM FRANCE VIA MEXICO, TRANS-RIO GRANDE TO BROWNSVILLE AND THROUGH THE UNION BLOCKADE TO HOUSTON.

The only international frontier between the Confederacy and a neutral country was formed by the Rio Grande River. This border between southwest Texas and northern Mexico represented a conduit for supplies and mail that could circumvent the Federal blockade of the Confederate coastline. Mail was exchanged across the Rio Grande throughout the war, mostly between commercial correspondents in Mexico and Texas, with fewer than five covers known from Europe. As the trade in cotton and munitions across this border grew in importance, the U.S. took actions to stop it, and initiated a partial blockade of the Gulf coast off Brownsville in July 1862, shortly before this cover was sent. Later, the U.S. occupation of the Brownsville region from November 6, 1863 to July 20, 1864 naturally pushed the cross-border exchange of mail up the river to Laredo and Eagle Pass.

Illustrated in Special Routes on p. 157. Ex Emerson (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE COVER FROM A CONFEDERATE OFFICER AT CAMP VERDE, TEXAS -- THE SITE OF THE FAMOUS CAMEL CORPS -- TO GERMANY, CARRIED ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE BETWEEN EAGLE PASS AND PIEDRAS NEGRAS, THEN BY ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET.

During the Civil War, Albert Carl Moye, an immigrant from Kassel, Germany, was a Lieutenant and then Captain of Company B, 3rd Texas Infantry of the Confederate Army. The 3rd Infantry, raised in San Antonio, saw limited involvement in the war, being stationed mostly along the Mexican border. For a biography of Moye and a picture of his home, go to http://kingwilliamassociation.org/joomla/images/newsletters/july08.pdf

Camp Verde was surrendered to Confederate forces on March 7, 1861. When captured, the fort was home to eighty camels, which were part of the so-called Camel Corps, which was organized in 1856 as part of the U.S. military strategy in the southwest territory. Some of the camels captured by the Confederates were used to haul cotton to Mexico over the overland route. Each camel carried two bales, one on each side, to Matamoros and returned with a load of salt.

This cover was carried on the RMSP Clyde, departing Tampico Dec. 31, 1861, arriving St. Thomas Jan. 12, 1862, then by RMSP La Plata, departing St. Thomas Jan. 14, arriving Southampton Jan. 29.

Illustrated in Special Routes (p. 162). (Image)

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