New Additions: CSA #10 & Fredericksburg Provisional

In this time of social distancing and self-quarantine, Stamp Collecting can serve as a way to keep from going insane from boredom. I haven’t worked on my collection for some time due travel and getting caught up with other hobbies, and with the addition of newest, and rarest, stamp to my collection, I figured today would be a good time. Hopefully, this will continue in the coming weeks and months as I have a number of ideas.

 

I recently purchased a CSA #10 Frame Line. This is the rarest of all the general issue Confederate stamps and is one I thought I would never be able to afford. Luckily I checked out the website of Trish Kaufmann at the right moment and find one for sale at the very limit of my price range. Though it has an unfortunate flaw, I am very grateful to fill this major hole in my collection. The 10c Frame Line was the first of the engraved General Issue stamps. There were only half a million of these produced. This is likely because they were really only samples from the firm Archer & Daly. The frame line was dropped from later printings which is what we know as the CSA #11. Most of these stamps were used which is why so few exist today. They were mainly used in Richmond with a significant amount also used in Mobile, AL (like the one I just acquired). For novice collectors beware of fakes. There are many who tried to add a frame line with a pen to a CSA 11 in order to drive up the price. If you attempt to buy one, make sure you are dealing with a reputable dealer.

I also added to my album today I stamp I bought some time back, but left sitting in my stock book. Almost a year ago I purchased a Fredericksburg Postmaster Provision, (5c Blue). While it certainly isn’t the prettiest stamp, it makes a nice addition, to the small but growing number of provisionals in my album. It was issued by local Postmaster Rueben T Thom. This stamp was produced by typeset locally in Fredericksburg. There are few used examples surviving. Thom also produced a red 10c stamp, though there is no evidence that is was ever used.

While the future is currently very uncertain, I hope to finally put together a one-frame exhibit of the general issue CSA stamps for ChicagoPex 2020, this may be pushed back further depending on what happens in the coming weeks and months.

(Most of the information in this post comes from the Confederate States of America Catalog of Stamps and Postal History, 2012 and the Collectors Guide to Confederate Philately, 2011 by John Kimbrough and Conrad Bush.)

Camp Douglas Part 1

I apologize in the delay since my last post, I did not intend to take this long to post again. I have been doing some research on an article I hope to write before the end of the year about the Union POW Camp in Chicago, Camp Douglas. But the pace has been slower than I planned, so I wanted to give an update on what I have been working on.

From the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation

Camp Douglas was first opened as a reception and training center for Union troops. The first soldiers arrived in September 1861 from the 9th Illinois Calvary. In these early months of the war, some 40,000 troops would come through Camp Douglas and its satellite camps.

Following the surrender of Confederate forces at Fort Donelson in February 1862, Camp Douglas was selected to house the Confederate Prisoners of War. The first of these POWs would arrive on February 20th.

At some point, a as of yet unnamed Confederate soldier from Kentucky had the misfortune of ending up a POW at Camp Douglas. This soldier wrote a letter back home in November 1863. I have here a cover that was sent from Camp Douglas to a Mr. H.J. Richardson in Hart County, Kentucky. It features a red 3¢ Scott #65 with a blue “P” cancel.

There is more to come about Camp Douglas soon.

North Carolina Quartermaster’s Dept Cover

I haven’t posted in a while partly because it’s been a busy last few weeks but mainly because I’ve been doing some research on what I hope will become a longer article that I will publish. But in the meantime, I thought I should share a cover that I recently purchased.

It is addressed to Officer Commanding, Co. G, 5th Confederate Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia. This a semi-official, preprinted envelope (S-NC-29). It features a blue 10¢ CSA 12-AD tied RALEIGH N.C. 26 (no month) and the pencil notation “can’t locate.”

The 5th North Carolina Infantry was organized in May 1861 in Halifax. The regiment was involved throughout the entirety of the war, from 1st Manassas to Appomattox. Co. G included many men from Wilson County. The commanding officer who this cover was addressed to could have been either Capt. James M. Taylor or Capt. Thomas P. Thomson. It is unknown why the officer was unable to be located.

For more information about the 5th NC Infantry:

• https://civilwarintheeast.com/confederate-regiments/north-carolina/5th-north-carolina-infantry-regiment/
• http://www.civilwarindex.com/armync/5th_nc_infantry.html

Fort Delaware POW Camp

I have been meaning to post about this stamp that at one time would have been on the cover of a letter sent from Fort Delaware which was a Union Prisoner of War camp. Fort Delaware housed Confederate prisoners from early on in the war and by 1865 some 33,000 men had been imprisoned there. It is in northern Delaware located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.

Compared to other Civil War prison camps such as Andersonville and Camp Douglas, the conditions at Fort Delaware were fairly good. One prisoner would remark “Things here are not quite as bad as I expected to find them. They are, however, bad, hopeless and gloomy enough without any exaggeration,” The mortality rate was only 7.6% with most of the deaths attributed to an 1863 smallpox epidemic. Many of those who died while imprisoned here are buried at Finn’s Point National Cemetery in Pennsville, NJ.

The stamp (blue CSA #11) that prompted this article was attached to a cover that was sent from the prison. It was likely sent through the lines since there is no other cancel on it. It was my first POW-related piece in my collection. The examined stamp is partially reconstructed for display purposes.

Confederate Monuments

The debate over Confederate monuments in public places continues to rage on. It has become a heated, emotional topic throughout the country, especially in the South. I will not be taking a side in this debate, but instead, I want to share a series of videos about it. I think the best way to understand this is to look to history and historians rather than activists, flag wavers, or politicians.

In July 2018 the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation hosted a debate on this issue that was aired on C-SPAN. It features historians such as James Robertson, Caroline Janney, and the CEO of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond Christy Coleman.

The talks can be viewed in full here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?448679-5/debate-confederate-monuments 

A Few Changes

It’s been a while since I have had a chance to work on my collection let alone post here. I again hope that will change in the near future. I have changed the name on the banner of this blog and the Facebook page. I want to better attract people to the site and I think in today’s climate it is better to not have the word “Confederate” in the title. The focus, however, will basically remain the same. I thought of adding “currency” to the title but decided it against it since I am still new to collecting Civil War currency and do not know much on the subject.

I am hoping in the coming months to post about a few items in my collection. I also am hoping to finally get an exhibit together for Fall 2019. I’ve been wanting to do this since I started this blog but keep putting it off.

So, while there is a slight change in name, my collecting focus will still be stamps and postal history of the Confederate States. This will be supplemented by Civil War currency and general posts about Civil War History.

Update July 2018

Well, it has been well over a year now since I have posted anything. In the past year, I have done a 2 month long Spanish immersion and continued on for another year as a graduate student. I haven’t really done much with my collection and never got around to finishing my exhibit. I still hope to do so, but do not have a timetable on that.

In addition to stamps and postal history, I also collect, to a lesser degree, Confederate currency. Here are some notes I recently purchased.

And here are some photos from my visit to the Missouri Civil War Museum and Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery:

I hope to get back to working with my collection in this latter half of 2018, and blogging and posting about it on Facebook, but I can’t promise anything.

Facebook

I decided to launch a Facebook page in connection to this blog in order to reach a wider audience. My hope is that more people will be able to learn out Confederate Philately from my small effort. I also hope that others, most especially the Confederate Stamp Alliance, will follow my example.
The page can be viewed by clicking the link on the righthand side of the page or by going to: https://www.facebook.com/CSA.Stamps/

 

Working on my album & goals for 2017

This evening I began working on my album of stamps and postal history for the for the first time in almost 3 years. I recently redid all my album pages, I changed how I labeled the stamps and updated the information using the new Confederate State of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History (also known as the CSA Catalog). I created my own album pages as I did not like what was available commercially.

It took me a long to finally print them out and get back to work, but I am very happy I did. I had forgotten how relaxing and rewarding this hobby could be. I just put on some music and work away. It’s amazing being able to work with items that are over 150 years old.

I also have learned something new while putting the new pages into the album. When I got to the CSA #7 (the Richmond printed 5¢ blue typograph) , I was a little confused when I went to add a newer stamp that was labeled “CSA 7-L.” To me, it looked like the London printed #6, but I knew that the dealer whom I had purchased it from would not have made a mistake like this. So I went to the CSA Catalog and there I found my answer the #7-L  was printed in Richmond but on London paper. The #7 which was already in my album was printed on local paper, which is why it has a somewhat rougher appearance. I’ve only had the CSA Catalog for a couple of months and it is already paying off for me.

CSA #7-L

As the new year continues I have set goals for 2017:

• Finish updating my album
• Continue to post and update this blog
• Enter an exhibit at a local stamp show
• Write an article for the Confederate Philatelist (journal of the Confederate Stamp Alliance)

My first Patriotic Cover

10-star flag patriotic cover, CSA Catalog type F10-3 addressed in pencil to Miss Emily L. Cain, Clarksville NC routed Via Raleigh but cannot determine if postally used. Stamp possibly missing at upper right, also appears to be a faint “Pd 10” in pencil at top but this may be a stretch. (description from Trish Kaufmann)

I recently purchased my first patriotic cover (shown above) from Trish Kaufmann. I have had an interest in such covers for some time now, but most of them have fallen outside of my price range. I was lucky when I spotted this one for a great price and just couldn’t pass it up.

What attracted me to these covers is their beauty. Many are bright colored and elaborate, in contrast your normal plain envelope. They also tell a story, they show how a new nation was brimming with optimism in the early months of the war. I think this is why as time went on we see fewer uses of such covers, as the southern population grew disillusioned not only with the on going war, but with the Confederacy as Nation as well.

I hope this will be the first of many such items in my collection. I will be keeping my eye out for future deals like the one I got on this one.