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VERY FINE. A RARE SOLDIER’S COVER AND LETTER FROM THE CONFEDERATE MILITARY TERRITORY OF ARIZONA AND POSTMARKED AT MESILLA.
On September 25, 1861, when Arizona was a Confederate territory under Lieutenant Colonel Baylor’s military governorship, the C.S.A. Postmaster General appointed William D. Skillman as postmaster at Mesilla, the westernmost and only Arizona post office in the Confederacy. Postmaster Skillman used the existing Mesilla N.M.” datestamp with the old New Mexico designation. Mail was carried between Mesilla and San Antonio on a portion of the old Overland Mail route, which was operated by Skillman and his brother, Henry, under the familiar San Antonio & San Diego Mail Co. name. Advertisements for the mail line predate Skillman’s September 25, 1861, appointment (see page 75). On August 28, 1861, George H. Giddings (with the Skillmans) received a contract from the C.S.A. Post Office Department to carry mail between Mesilla and Texas, commencing November 1, 1861. Mail on the first C.S.A. contract trip from Mesilla was postmarked on Sunday, November 3, 1861.
Enlisted soldiers were not permitted to use military expresses to carry their mail, so this letter was carried by Private Collins as his company marched from Camp Willow Bar to Fort Thorn. He placed it in the post office at Mesilla on December 27, and it was postmarked January 5, 1862, the date of the Skillman express trip to El Paso. He was not permitted to prepay postage, as the letter explains: You must excuse me Rob’t for not paying the postage. I have the means & would have but our Adj’t will not receive it.”
Illustrated in C.S.A. Catalog (p. 242). Ex Walske (Siegel Sale 980, lot 2829) (Image)
VERY FINE. A HISTORIC FIRST DAY COVER FROM THE CONFEDERATE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.
On January 13, 1862, the Confederate Congress passed the Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona,” subject to a provision that required a Confederate presidential proclamation for it to be in full force and effect. After signing the bill on January 18, President Jefferson Davis issued his formal proclamation on February 14, 1862, which effectively created the Confederate Territory of Arizona. The first mail trip from Mesilla after the Davis proclamation was on Monday, February 16; therefore, this date is the official First Day of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. (Image)
VERY FINE. A HISTORIC FIRST DAY COVER FROM THE CONFEDERATE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA AND REPORTED TO BE THE ONLY KNOWN PREPAID COVER FROM MESILLA.
On January 13, 1862, the Confederate Congress passed the Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona,” subject to a provision that required a Confederate presidential proclamation for it to be in full force and effect. After signing the bill on January 18, President Jefferson Davis issued his formal proclamation on February 14, 1862, which effectively created the Confederate Territory of Arizona. The first mail trip from Mesilla after the Davis proclamation was on Monday, February 16; therefore, this date is the official First Day of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.
Dr. Henry J. Hunter, a member of Company I, 7th Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, was detached as assistant surgeon at Mesilla from December 14, 1861, to April 21, 1862. He was appointed 2nd assistant surgeon on March 11, 1862. Dr. Hunter was taken prisoner and exchanged June 6, 1862.
It is reported that ten Confederate Mesilla covers are known, but all of the others were sent postage due (a note on back from Brian M. Green states Paid 10 [only one known]”). The letter in lot 1088 states that the sender wished to pay postage, but the adjutant refused to accept payment.
Illustrated in C.S.A. Catalog (p. 242) (Image)
FINE APPEARANCE. THE ONLY RECORDED COVER FROM MESILLA IN CONFEDERATE ARIZONA TERRITORY THAT WAS POSTMARKED IN TEXAS.
John Birkinbine records this as the latest Confederate cover known from Mesilla--the post office was inoperative, so mail was carried by Skillman to El Paso and postmarked there. (Image)
VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COVER FROM FORT YUMA, THE STAGING AREA FOR UNION TROOPS PREPARING TO INVADE THE CONFEDERATE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA. (Image)
VERY FINE. PROBABLY A UNIQUE EXAMPLE OF SOLDIER’S MAIL FROM THIS REMOTE GILA RIVER OUTPOST ESTABLISHED BY THE CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS ADVANCING THROUGH ARIZONA--DAYS AFTER THIS WAS WRITTEN, FORT BARRETT WAS ESTABLISHED AT THIS LOCATION.
In April 1862 Brigadier General James H. Carleton ordered the establishment of a regular express to carry soldiers’ mail in areas occupied by Union forces (Special Orders No. 49). The bravest and most skilled cavalry riders, called Vedettes, and the finest horses were selected for this service. They rode relays along the old Butterfield Overland Mail route. On April 21, 1862, General Carleton reported, I have established, as you see by the inclosed order, a chain of vedettes to bring and to carry information. While they will exercise surveillance upon the route, and in some places guard sub-depots of supplies necessarily deposited here and there upon the road, they will keep me informed of all that transpires in my rear; all that relates to the approach of supplies, and keep me in open communication with the general.” On June 8, 1862, General Carleton declared martial law in Tucson and established the Military District of Arizona.
The Battle of Picacho Pass, fought about 60 miles from Tucson on April 15, resulted in the Union army’s temporary retreat westward to the Pima Villages, where they established a supply depot and started construction on Fort Barrett, named in honor of Lt. James Barrett, who was killed in the battle. This letter was written on May 4, 1862, from an officer with the California Volunteers, who was located at the site of Fort Barrett. Following the capture of Tucson later in May, the construction of Fort Barrett was stopped, and it was abandoned except as a post for Vedette and military express riders. (Image)