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Mail has always been very important to soldiers. During the Civil War, as it is today, the arrival of mail was highly anticipated. Those of you who have been in the service can attest to that.
Franklin Bailey wrote to his parents in 1861, that, getting a letter from home was more important to him than "getting a gold watch."
Soldiers did not just sit back and wait for their loved ones to write to them. They very actively solicited their friends and family by writing voraciously.
Even after the firing on Fort Sumter the postal service continued to serve those states declaring themselves out of the Union. Southerners continued to use U.S. postage. On June 1, 1861, the postal services separated themselves from one another, the date choosen by the Confederate Post Office Department.
By October of 1861, the seceded states still had in their possession, postage valued at over $200,000. As a result, the design of U. S. postage was changed and stamps, and envelopes were destroyed throughout Northern post offices.
In the Union ;
According to Bell Wiley's "Billy Yank," a civilian worker with the U. S. Sanitary Commission, who visited a number of units in 1861, reported that many regiments sent out an average of 600 letters per day.
About 45,000 pieces of mail per day were sent through Washington D. C. from the eastern theater of the war, and about double that in the west, through Louisville. Areas with heavy troop concentrations were bogged down with incredible amounts of mail.
A soldier who kept track of his own outgoing mail reported that in 1863 he sent 109 letters to "homefolk," 55 letters to other friends and another 37 letters were written by him for fellows who could not write. He was pleased that he received 85 letters in return.
In order to process the estimated 8 million letters per month, postal reforms were enacted. Prior to the war, the postal service carried a large deficit, mostly due to southern routes. In 1860 alone, mail service in the eleven Confederate states cost about $2,897,530 while producing receipts of $938,105, a deficit of nearly 2 million dollars. With secession, unproductive routes were eliminated so that by 1863 the U. S. postal service was actually showing a profit. This profit helped bring about a number of important postal reforms.
On July 1, 1863, free delivery of mail began in the 49 largest cities in the North, cities with over 50,000 in population. Within 3 years the free delivery was extended across the country.
Postal carriers walked about 22 miles per day, seven days per week, and were paid an annual wage of $670. It cost three cents to send a letter, except to the far west, it cost ten cents. In an 1863 reform, the cost of mailing a letter was standardized to 3 cents anywhere in the country.
In 1864, to speed up the process of delivery, the postal service began to sort the mail while still on the train, cutting about 24 hours off delivery time. While there were often lengthy delays, most CW soldiers received their mail within 2 weeks of it being sent.
According to several reports, about 90 % of white Union soldiers were literate and about 80 % of
Confederate.
In the Confederacy;
Shortages of ink, paper, and postage stamps limited
the amount of mail sent. The Confederate Post Office
Department raised its rate to 5 cents on a half ounce letter for the first 500 miles with double the rate after 500 miles.
The increase still did not meet the expenses, so on July 1, 1862, the rate was standardized to 10 cents per letter,
with newspaper and book rates dependent upon weight.
Service was also reduced to three times per week, instead of daily, but for the soldier it was much more infrequent. One Confederate soldier wrote home, "It is a constant incessant complaint in the army...in regard to not receiving any letters from home and their friends and relatives not receiving those they write to them. There is quite a defect somewhere not to say gross negligence on the part of some one."
When John G. Reagan took over as Postmaster General of the Confederate Post Office Department in March of 1861, one of his first acts was to send a friend to Washington D. C. in an effort to recruit southern born postal workers to come to work for the Confederacy. He asked these men to bring with them reports, route maps, forms, and anything else they thought could be useful in setting up the Confederate Post Office Department.
Reagan's recruiting effort was very effective, and he was even presented with the U. S. Postmaster General's appointment book.
Reagan negotiated with the railroads to haul the mail once a day, instead of twice, and at half the rate until the end of the war at which time Reagan promised premium prices.
At the June 1st switch to the Confederate Postal
Department, a date choosen by the Confederacy oddly enough, the department found themselves without any postage stamps. For 20 weeks, postmasters were forced to use hand stamps or provisional issues. The first issued Confederate stamp was a 5 cent stamp which bore the likeness of Jefferson Davis.
The supply of Confederate stamps never met the demand. Letters of value or containing money were most often sent via the Southern Express Company.
With the Postal Department in financial trouble, the Confederate Congress established an Express service for government letters travelling over 500 miles. The rate was a flat $1, but by 1864 the department operated at a profit, due to the extensive use of this $1 rate. The exchange of money from the Confederate Treasury
Department to the Confederate Post Office Department hid the true expense of the service.
Now showing a "profit," Confederate soldiers were allowed to send their letters postage due, and newspapers were allowed to be sent to the soldiers on the various fronts for free. Exchange of mail from the Confederate States to the United States was handled by private companies, primarily Adams - Southern Express.
Foreign mail was a problem, getting into the country was difficult due to the blockade, getting out of the country was problematic because Confederate postage was not recognized by any foreign nation. Ships captains carrying mail arranged to purchase postage at the port of entry.
Postal workers in the Confederacy were paid about $60 per month. In 1863, in Richmond, postal workers went on strike for higher wages. Reagan promised an increase and the workers went back to work on his promise. With the $1 express rate the workers were granted an increase.
At war's end mail service gradually returned to the control of the U. S. Postal Service. Special postal agents were assigned to assist in the restoration of service. By November of 1865, 241 Southern routes were restored. By November of 1866, 3,234 of 8,902 post offices in the South were back under Federal control.
Articles on mail, and the postal systems can be found in both of Bell Wiley's books, "Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb," as well as in Richard Current's "Encyclopedia of the Confederacy." "The Union, a Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War," by Munden and Beers, contains not only a road map to finding more in the archives, but a pretty good description of postal reforms and activities of the Postal Department.Beers solo effort on the Confederacy, "The Confederacy, A Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America," provides much information on the Confederate Post Office Department.
As a member of today's United States Postal Service, may I say you have done an excellent amount of research on the subject of Civil War era mail. Outstanding post!
I learned much from it and hope you continue to exercise this wonderful quality in other subjects on other threads.
Samgrant,
I am only one man and Chicago is on it's on with the Postal employee's you already have in place.
Sorry,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
I''s food for a lot of thought when you consider that the mail and newspapers went through, grain and flour went from west to points east and then across the pond. Fabric was woven, banks made small loans and the stock market worked. Iron went from east to west to feed the forges of the smithies and the small manufacturing plants. Kids went to school, canal boats, trains and freight wagons were running. If not for the vacant chairs, the casualtie lists and news from the front, could have been close to business as usual.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Dave, nice informative post. I had virtually no info at all previously on postal service during the Civil War.
In addition, I've alway heard the familiar joke, or tag line, of "lost in the mail". I've heard it all my life. Newman on "Seinfeld" didn't do much to help the reputation of the USPS, but, I believe if there are any "Newmans" out there in a Carrier's uniform, they are few and far between. Seinfeld is a comedy show anyway.
In my 52 years on the planet thus far, I have yet to have anything I have sent by mail or was supposed to receive by mail, "lost in the mail". Certainly there are many pieces of mail that I wish had been lost, but, that's a whole other story.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
In addition, I've alway heard the familiar joke, or tag line, of "lost in the mail". I've heard it all my life. Newman on "Seinfeld" didn't do much to help the reputation of the USPS, but, I believe if there are any "Newmans" out there in a Carrier's uniform, they are few and far between.
In my 52 years on the planet thus far, I have yet to have anything I have sent by mail or was supposed to receive by mail, "lost in the mail". Certainly there are many pieces of mail that I wish had been lost, but, that's a whole other story.
Terry
I have postal problems on average about once a month
(eg. they say "undeliverable" while my apartment building has 7x24 personell here to receive anything, and then they say they left a "notice" which they did Not leave....., try to phone them? don't bother, they don't answer, and if one actually goes to the PO building they treat you like a criminal. Oh I could go on...)
Apparently they sent all the "Newmans" to Chicago.
Maybe they don't like me cause I order all those big, fat Civil War books?
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
Sam, sounds like you might have the "postal service from hell" there in Chicago. Guess I've been lucky. I've lived in Denver and Boston, and had no mail troubles there either, so maybe it's a Chicago thing.
TW
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
As a member of today's United States Postal Service, may I say you have done an excellent amount of research on the subject of Civil War era mail. Outstanding post!
I learned much from it and hope you continue to exercise this wonderful quality in other subjects on other threads.
Samgrant,
I am only one man and Chicago is on it's on with the Postal employee's you already have in place.
Sorry,
Unionblue
My Dad was a Postal worker, too. Worked **** hard: a good man.
I remember reading - maybe in Burke Davis' CIVIL WAR: STRANGE AND FASCINATING FACTS - that the Confederate Postal Service turned a profit, and was the only Confederate government agency to do so.
According to Dave's post, if it turned a profit, is was temporary and dogggone little.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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Postal Service During the Civil War 
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