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VERY FINE. A CHOICE STRIKE OF THE FORT BUCHANAN DATESTAMP AND RARE COVER TO CHARLESTON, CARRIED ON THE BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE THROUGH FORT SMITH AND MEMPHIS.
The addressee, Charles Edmondston, was the namesake relative of Private Charles Edmondston Whilden, who served in New Mexico as personal secretary to John Breckinridge Grayson during that future Confederate general’s tenure as a commissary officer. The content of some of Private Whilden’s letters from New Mexico to his brother William were published in the New Mexico Historical Review (April 1965). In 1860-61 Whilden returned to South Carolina and in 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army. This average soldier, who suffered from epilepsy, earned fame for his heroic role as a standing human flag pole” in the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864 (Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy’s Most Unlikely Hero, Gordon C. Rhea).
The Butterfield route forked at Fort Smith into St. Louis and Memphis branches, and the Fort Smith-Memphis line was subcontracted to another carrier. It seems likely that this Charleston-bound cover was sent via Memphis. Mail and passengers were carried in one of three ways: by rail and stage; over an all-water route on the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers; or by stage between Fort Smith and Des Arc, suplemented by steamboats on the White and Mississippi Rivers. Very little mail was carried on the Memphis branch.
Ex Rosselat and Dr. Dike (Image)
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VERY FINE. A RARE DOUBLE-RATE COVER WITH THE 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE AND THE EARLIEST COVER FROM FORT BUCHANAN AFTER THE CREATION OF ARIZONA COUNTY IN NEW MEXICO.
Effective February 1, 1860, the legislature of New Mexico created Arizona County from the western part of Doña Ana County, which included Fort Buchanan. This cover is the earliest recorded postmark from the newly-established Arizona County. (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. THE EARLIEST RECORDED DATE AND ARGUABLY THE FINEST KNOWN STRIKE OF THE TUCSON CIRCULAR DATESTAMP.
This was sent by the mine operator Horace C. Grosvenor in Tubac (he was killed by Apaches in 1861). It was carried to Tucson on a buckboard operated by S. H. Lathrop under contract with the Tubac postmaster (see page 40). From Tucson it was carried on the eastbound Butterfield stage to St. Louis via Fort Smith (stage to Tipton, Missouri).
See lot 1074 for a related Grosvenor cover (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. A RARE DOUBLE-RATE COVER WITH THE 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE TIED BY A SUPERB STRIKE OF THE TUCSON CIRCULAR DATESTAMP.
This was carried on the eastbound Butterfield stage to St. Louis (Tipton) via Fort Smith.
Ex Dr. Dike (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF FOUR REPORTED EXAMPLES OF THE ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, MANUSCRIPT POSTMARK.
The town of Arizona City (or Arizona) was established in 1854 by Charles D. Poston and originally named Colorado City. Consisting of adobe dwellings, two stores and two saloons, it was situated on the bank of the Colorado River, opposite Fort Yuma, California. By 1858 the town became known as Arizona City” or simply Arizona” (the official post office name). John Blake Dow was appointed postmaster on March 17, 1858, but was replaced by Lansford Warren Hastings three months later, on July 17. The post office and Butterfield station were one small counter in the Hooper mercantile store. Originally part of Doña Ana County, New Mexico Territory, on February 1, 1860, Arizona City became part of Arizona County, New Mexico Territory. Arizona County comprised all the land of the Gadsden Purchase west of a line close to the current New Mexico-Arizona border.
The sender specified Fort Buchanan in his route directive, but the Butterfield mail stage did not pass through that fort. It was picked up on the east bank of the Yuma Crossing and carried to St. Louis via Tucson, north of Fort Buchanan. A later cover from the same correspondence (March 22, lot 1027) has the correct Tucson route directive--it was picked up as a way letter east of Arizona City (and west of Tucson), indicating that the sender was traveling in an easterly direction from the California border. The Arizona City postmaster, Lansford Warren Hastings, assessed 7¢ due on the cover offered here for the 10¢ over-3,000 mile rate.
VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE LATEST OF ONLY FOUR REPORTED EXAMPLES OF THE ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, MANUSCRIPT POSTMARK.
The manuscript postmark was applied by Arizona City postmaster, Lansford Warren Hastings. (Image)