Lot
4053 
Confederacy, (Southern Letter Unpaid) "Farnham Va. June 13th 1861", manuscript postmark and matching "Paid 5cts" CSA rating with "10" re-rate on 3¢ red on buff Nesbitt entire(U10) entire to Louisville, matching manuscript cancelling indicia, entered U.S. mails at Louisville with blue grid cancel and matching "DUE" straightline with manuscript "3" U.S. rating; light vertical fold and backflap slightly trimmed, Very Fine, ex-Walske. Scott No. US #U10 Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
AN EXCEPTIONAL "SOUTHERN LETTER UNPAID" USE TO LOUISVILLE AFTER SUSPENSION OF THE NASHVILLE-LOUISVILLE MAIL ROUTE.
The U.S. May 27 suspension order prohibited post offices from forwarding southbound mail to disloyal Southern states. However, northbound mail continued to be sent via Louisville. Through June 6, northbound mails were forwarded to Louisville from Memphis or Nashville. From June 7 through 12, only the Nashville post office forwarded mail to Louisville, and Louisville continued to forward mail north. On June 15, after the U.S. mail agent had been withdrawn from the Nashville-Louisville route (the last trip was on June 12), the Nashville postmaster, W. D. McNish, started to forward mail to Louisville by using the American Letter Express Company, who brought the mails across the lines and deposited them in the Louisville post office. This letter was in one of the daily mails forwarded by express under this unusual arrangement, arriving in Louisville on or about June 18.
United States postage stamps and stamped envelopes used from the South were regarded as contraband and were refused as prepayment. The familiar "Southn. Letter Unpaid" handstamp was used by the Louisville post office on mail sent north, but letters addressed locally were marked "Due" for unpaid postage. Examples of "Southern Letter Unpaid" mail delivered in Louisville are exceedingly rare.
References: Pictured in new C.S.A. Handbook on page 481.
Realized: $2,700