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The John Birkinbine II Collection of of Arizona and New Mexico Postal History continued...

Civil War and Confederate Arizona
Lot Sym. Lot Description  
1065 c ImageTubac, N.M. Mar. 31 Paid 6” (1860) Manuscript Postmark. Legal-size cover addressed to Col. Sam. Colt, Colt’s Armory, Hartford, Connecticut, Via St. Louis”, pencil receipt docketing J.D. Alden Mch/1860”, opening tear across top left corner through postmark

FINE APPEARANCE. THIS COVER WAS CARRIED FROM TUCSON ON THE FIRST BUTTERFIELD STAGE DEPARTURE AFTER THE APRIL 3, 1860, VOTE THAT CREATED THE PROVISIONAL TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT OF ARIZONA.

The sender, J. Dean Alden, was one of the 31 delegates from 13 towns in the Gadsden Purchase region who met in Tucson, April 2-5, 1860, for the purpose of creating a provisional government until Congress shall organize a territorial government...” Alden rode on Lathrop’s buckboard, which carried the mail with this cover. The vote took place on Tuesday, April 3, and the mail left on the next Butterfield stage, which was scheduled to depart at 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, April 4. Therefore, this is a First Day” Arizona territorial cover.

Ex Dr. Dike (Image)

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 E. 2,000-3,000

CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
1066 c ImageFort Buchanan N.M. Jul. 17” (1860) Circular Datestamp--Senorta Valley to Fort Buchanan by Rider, to Tubac by Military Express, Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail to Tucson, and from Tucson to St. Louis by Butterfield Overland Mail. Perfect strike of circular datestamp ties 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26), tiny tear, on small cover from Orville G. Irvine to his mother in Corning, New York, sender’s directive Via St. Louis Over Land Mail”, with original letter datelined Senorta Valey [sic], Arizona, July 8th 1860”, great content including descriptions of Apache and Mexican attacks, stealing livestock and plundering, all summed up with the line this is very Rough Country on account of there Being no Laws and there is nobody but Rascals here...”

EXTREMELY FINE. A COVER OF EXTRAORDINARY QUALITY WITH A WONDERFUL LETTER FROM ARIZONA DURING THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT PERIOD.

Ex Hall, Jarrett and Dr. Schnell (Image)

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 E. 3,000-4,000

SOLD for $2,400.00
Will close during Public Auction
1067 c ImageGila City N.M., April 4th /60” Manuscript Postmark. Neat pen strokes on 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on buff cover to Alvarado, California, with original letter datelined Fort Yuma near Arizona City, N.M., Mar. 27th 1860”, sender’s notation Stamped” at lower left was a security measure against stamp theft in notorious Gila City, without bottom backflap, minor skillful stain removal around stamp and mends along bottom edge of cover

VERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED POSTMARK FROM GILA CITY, A GHOST TOWN IN CASTLE DOME COUNTY, WHERE SWIVELER’S” STATION WAS LOCATED ON THE BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE--DATED ON THE FIRST DAY FOLLOWING THE APRIL 3, 1860, VOTE IN TUCSON THAT CREATED THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.

This letter was written on March 27, 1860, at Fort Yuma on the west bank of the Colorado River. Normally, mail would be put into the post office at Arizona City on the opposite side, then picked up by a Butterfield stage. In this case, although the cover is addressed to northern California (Alvarado in Alemeda County, near San Francisco), it was carried 20 miles east of the Yuma Crossing, before it was put in a westbound stage. John Birkinbine theorizes that the writer boarded the eastbound stage that left San Francisco on Thursday, March 22 (1860), which would have passed through Fort Yuma around March 28. Instead of putting the letter into the Arizona City post office, possibly because it was closed at the time, the writer carried his letter 20 miles east to Swiveler’s” or Snively’s” Station (listed by both names in different sources), near the Gila City post office, a trip that took about five hours at the usual pace.

Gila City became a boom town after gold was discovered in 1858. The post office was established on December 24, 1858, with the appointment of Henry Burch as postmaster. He was succeeded by Thomas J. Mastin on August 3, 1859. A clerk must have postmarked this cover on April 4, 1860, since Mastin was a delegate attending the April 2-5 convention in Tucson where the provisional government of the Territory of Arizona was created on Tuesday, April 3. This cover was put on the Butterfield stage headed west toward the Yuma Crossing, which covered the same ground the cover had traveled days earlier. Mastin was killed by Indians in 1861 and replaced as postmaster by George Martin. Gila City became a ghost town after the start of the Civil War and the great flood of winter 1861-62, and its post office was discontinued on July 14, 1863. This is the only recorded cover with a Gila City postmark.

Ex Springer (Image)

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 E. 4,000-5,000

SOLD for $8,500.00
Will close during Public Auction
1068 c ImageArizona N.M. Nov. 21” (1860) Circular Datestamp Used in Arizona County in Recently Established Provisional Goverment of Arizona Territory. Two clear strikes of circular datestamp, one tying 10¢ Green, Ty. V (35), well-centered, short perfs at left, on buff cover to Catherine B. Foote in Delhi, New York, sender’s directive Overland Mail Route”, minor repair along left edge

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN OUTSTANDING ARIZONA TERRITORIAL COVER FROM THE TOWN OF ARIZONA CITY AT THE YUMA CROSSING, USED DURING THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT PERIOD. THE COUNTY NAME OF DONA ANA WAS CHANGED TO ARIZONA” IN FEBRUARY 1860.

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. On April 2-5, 1860, 31 delegates from thirteen towns in the Gadsden Purchase region met in Tucson and voted to create a provisional government for the Territory of Arizona until Congress shall organize a territorial government...” (Image)

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 E. 5,000-7,500

CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
1069 c ImageTucson N.M. Nov. 17” (1860) Circular Datestamp--Fort Buchanan to Tubac by Military Express, then by Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail to Tucson, and from Tucson to St. Louis by Butterfield Overland Mail. Perfect strike of circular datestamp on 3¢ Red on White Nesbitt entire (U9) addressed in the hand of Captain Richard S. Ewell (commander 1st Dragoons, U.S. Army, later a general in C.S.A. Army), to his niece Elizabeth in Williamsburg, Virginia, negligible tiny edge tear at bottom

EXTREMELY FINE. A PERFECT STRIKE OF THE TUCSON DATESTAMP ON A COVER FROM CAPTAIN RICHARD OLD BALDY” EWELL--SOON TO BECOME A CONFEDERATE GENERAL.

Captain Richard S. Old Baldy” Ewell helped establish Camp Moore in 1856, which was relocated and renamed Fort Buchanan in mid-1857. This November 1860 cover was mailed by Capt. Ewell near the end of his command at Fort Buchanan. He returned east in January 1861 due to recurring malaria infections.

Illustrated in Arizona Territory Post Offices & Postmasters (page 152). Ex Theobald and Springer. (Image)

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 E. 3,000-4,000

SOLD for $3,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
1070 c ImageTucson N.M. Feb. 12” (1861) Circular Datestamp--Tucson to San Francisco by Butterfield Overland Mail, then to Dayton, Oregon. Perfect strike of circular datestamp ties 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on yellow cover with Crandell’s Hotel, Market Street, San Jose, 1860” corner card in patriotic shield frame, addressed to M. Crawford Jr. in Dayton, Oregon, pencil note Fred”, right edge of cover and right quarter of stamp have been expertly restored

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE ONLY RECORDED TUCSON TERRITORIAL COVER WITH THIS PATRIOTIC CORNER CARD DESIGN--ALSO VERY RARE TO A PACIFIC NORTHWEST TOWN.

This San Jose hotel corner card envelope was carried to Tucson by a stage passenger traveling east, who left it at the Tucson post office for the westbound stage.

Ex Persson and Shipley (Image)

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 E. 1,500-2,000

CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
1071 c ImageFort Buchanan N.M. Mar. 7” (1861) Circular Datestamp--Alamos (Mexico) to Fort Buchanan by Stage, to Tubac by Military Express, Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail to Tucson, to San Francisco by Butterfield Overland Mail, and to Sacramento by River Steamboat. Clear strike of circular datestamp ties 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on yellow cover to Mrs. William A. Rowntree in Sacramento from her husband in Alamos, Mexico, red FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” framed handstamp with matching 3” reales Mexican rate handstamp on back

EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF THREE RECORDED COVERS WITH THE FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” HANDSTAMP AND 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE--THE FINER OF TWO STRUCK IN RED. THIS WAS PREPAID IN MEXICO AND SENT THROUGH THE POST OFFICE AT FORT BUCHANAN IN THE PROVISIONAL TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.

William A. Rowntree (also spelled Rountree), a resident of Sacramento, traveled to Mexico in 1861 to prospect for silver mines near Alamos. His arrival at Guaymas with a large group of mining prospectors and surveyors on January 4, 1861, was reported in the Letter from Guaymas,” dated January 7, 1861 (Sacramento Daily Union, February 7, 1861). While in Mexico, Rowntree wrote letters to his wife Sarah, and their correspondence is the only source of the three recorded covers from Mexico that were routed through Fort Buchanan. The covers are dated in 1861 at Fort Buchanan on February 28 (ex Dr. Dike and Shipley, Siegel Sale 803, lot 1146), March 7 (offered here) and March 23 (offered in lot 1072). At the time, Fort Buchanan was part of the provisional Territory of Arizona, created in April 1860 by delegates from the Gadsden Purchase region. Other Rowntree covers are offered in lots 1073 and 1080-1082.

The three covers were placed by Rowntree into the Mexican post office at Alamos. Each was handstamped FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” (paid in Alamos) and prepaid 3 reales Mexican postage (the rate for 16 or more leagues), indicated with a 3” numeral handstamp. The strikes on the February 28 and March 7 covers are in red; the March 23 is in black. Rowntree also prepaid U.S. postage on each cover with a 3¢ 1857 stamp. The Mexican FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” handstamp ties the U.S. stamps on the February 28 and March 23 covers, proving that the stamps were affixed when they were postmarked in Mexico.

The covers traveled from Alamos north to Fort Buchanan, where they were postmarked and sent by military express to Tubac. From there they were carried to Tucson on a buckboard operated by S. H. Lathrop under contract with the Tubac postmaster (see page 40 in printed catalog or pdf). The westbound Butterfield stages picked up the mail at Tucson at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. According to this schedule the February 28 cover (postmark date) was carried west on Friday, March 1; the March 7 cover on Friday, March 8; and the March 23 cover on Tuesday, March 26.

The March 23 cover is a very late use on the Southern Route. On March 2, 1861, Congress voted to move the contract mail route to the Central Route. The last eastbound Butterfield mail stage left San Francisco on Monday, April 1, 1861 (Walske-Frajola, Mails of the Westward Expansion 1803-1861, pp. 170-171). The last westbound mail left St. Louis on March 21, 1861.

Ex Hollowbush and J. David Baker (Image)

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 E. 15,000-20,000

CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
1072 c ImageFort Buchanan N.M. Mar. 23” (1861) Circular Datestamp--Alamos (Mexico) to Fort Buchanan by Stage, to Tubac by Military Express, Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail to Tucson, to San Francisco by Butterfield Overland Mail, and to Sacramento by River Steamboat. Perfect bold strike of circular datestamp ties 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on yellow cover to Mrs. William A. Rowntree in Sacramento from her husband in Alamos, Mexico, black FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” framed handstamp also ties stamp, matching 3” reales Mexican rate handstamp

EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF THREE FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” AND 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE COVERS AND THE ONLY ONE STRUCK IN BLACK. THIS WAS PREPAID IN MEXICO AND SENT THROUGH FORT BUCHANAN IN THE TERRITORY OF ARIZONA FOLLOWING THE MARCH 16 VOTE TO SECEDE FROM THE UNION.

William A. Rowntree (also spelled Rountree), a resident of Sacramento, traveled to Mexico in 1861 to prospect for silver mines near Alamos. His arrival at Guaymas with a large group of mining prospectors and surveyors on January 4, 1861, was reported in the Letter from Guaymas,” dated January 7, 1861 (Sacramento Daily Union, February 7, 1861). While in Mexico, Rowntree wrote letters to his wife Sarah, and their correspondence is the only source of the three recorded covers from Mexico that were routed through Fort Buchanan. The covers are dated in 1861 at Fort Buchanan on February 28 (ex Dr. Dike and Shipley, Siegel Sale 803, lot 1146), March 7 (offered in lot 1071) and March 23 (offered here). At the time, Fort Buchanan was part of the provisional Territory of Arizona, created in April 1860 by delegates from the Gadsden Purchase region. Other Rowntree covers are offered in lots 1073 and 1080-1082.

The three covers were placed by Rowntree into the Mexican post office at Alamos. Each was handstamped FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” (paid in Alamos) and prepaid 3 reales Mexican postage (the rate for 16 or more leagues), indicated with a 3” numeral handstamp. The strikes on the February 28 and March 7 covers are in red; the March 23 is in black. Rowntree also prepaid U.S. postage on each cover with a 3¢ 1857 stamp. The Mexican FRANCO*EN ALAMOS” handstamp ties the U.S. stamps on the February 28 and March 23 covers, proving that the stamps were affixed when they were postmarked in Mexico.

The covers traveled from Alamos north to Fort Buchanan, where they were postmarked and sent by military express to Tubac. From there they were carried to Tucson on a buckboard operated by S. H. Lathrop under contract with the Tubac postmaster (see page 40 in printed catalog or pdf). The westbound Butterfield stages picked up the mail at Tucson at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. According to this schedule the February 28 cover (postmark date) was carried west on Friday, March 1; the March 7 cover on Friday, March 8; and the March 23 cover on Tuesday, March 26.

The March 23 cover is a very late use on the Southern Route. On March 2, 1861, Congress voted to move the contract mail route to the Central Route. The last eastbound Butterfield mail stage left San Francisco on Monday, April 1, 1861 (Walske-Frajola, Mails of the Westward Expansion 1803-1861, pp. 170-171). The last westbound mail left St. Louis on March 21, 1861.

Illustrated in C.S.A. Catalog (p. 241). Ex Longfellow (Image)

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 E. 15,000-20,000

SOLD for $20,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
1073 c ImageArizona N.M. Mar. 27” (1861) Circular Datestamp--Used After Arizona Secession. Clear strike of circular datestamp ties 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on yellow cover to Mrs. William A. Rowntree in Sacramento from her husband at Fort Yuma (original letter no longer accompanies), small cover repair at top

VERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED ARIZONA CITY COVER POSTED AFTER SECESSION.

On Mar. 16, 1861, delegates met in Mesilla and voted to secede from the Union. The secession proclamation was ratified in a separate vote in Tucson on Mar. 25. The Daily Alta California (Apr. 5, 1861) reported news from Los Angeles that the westbound stage arrived on Apr. 4, three days behind time.” The Mar. 27 postmark date corresponds to the scheduled arrival in Arizona City, but this was picked up on April 1 by the delayed stage, three days out from Los Angeles.

Listed as unique in C.S.A. Catalog (p. 241). Ex Longfellow (Image)

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 E. 4,000-5,000

SOLD for $3,250.00
Will close during Public Auction
1074 c ImageTubac N.M. Apr. 4th 1861” Manuscript Postmark--Used After Arizona Secession. Postmark written by Postmaster Theodore Moohrman, pen strokes cancel 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on buff cover from Horace C. Grosvenor to Cincinnati, sender’s directive Via St. Louis”--to Tucson on Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail, probably carried on the March 25 eastbound Butterfield stage from San Francisco, due to arrive at Tucson April 3 but delayed--the mail from this trip was received in St. Louis around May 1--pencil Rec’d May 4, 1861” and pen From H. C. Grosvenor Apr. 3-1861” with notation Mr. Grosvenor was killed by the Appacha Indians April 25, 1861--Never reached Cin. June 12, 1861”, stamp has small faults, small cover mend at top

VERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED TUBAC COVER POSTED AFTER SECESSION.

On Mar. 16, 1861, delegates met in Mesilla and voted to secede from the Union. The secession proclamation was ratified in a separate vote in Tucson on Mar. 25. This is the only recorded cover with a Tubac postmark applied after secession. It is also a remarkable contemporary record of the murder of Horace C. Grosvenor, a principal in the Salero Mining Company, who was killed outside Tubac by Apaches on June 25, 1861.

Listed as unique in C.S.A. Catalog (p. 242) (Image)

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 E. 3,000-4,000

SOLD for $7,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
1075 c Image1861 February-March--Butterfield Overland Mail from St. Louis to Tucson, Lathrop’s Buckboard Mail to Tubac. 3¢ Dull Red, Ty. III (26) cancelled by grid, Owego N.Y. Feb. 21” (1861) circular datestamp on cover to Mr. Raph. Pumpelly of the Santa Rita Silver Mines, Tubac, Arizona, New Mexico”, red docketing from Mother”, small hole at left, Very Fine, carried on Feb. 25 trip from St. Louis, scheduled arrival Tucson Mar. 12, the four covers offered in lots 1075-1078 are addressed to Raphael Pumpelly, a geologist, engineer, author and later a professor at Harvard, who was associated with the Salero Mining Company, headquartered in Tubac from 1858 to 1861, Pumpelly was recruited to improve the company’s performance, but constant attacks by Apache Indians eventually led to the company’s demise, as well as the death of one of its principals, Horace C. Grosvenor (see lot 1074) (Image)

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 E. 1,000-1,500

CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction

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