Carried Away - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, a weekly feature where I share a hobby I enjoy with anyone who has interest.  It doesn't matter if you are an accomplished postal historian or just a curious bystander, everyone has an opportunity to learn something new.  Ignore your troubles for a bit - maybe if you forget to water them, they won't keep getting larger?  Grab a beverage of your choice and put on your fluffy slippers and take a few moments away from the rest of your busy life.

This week, we're going to look at the service provided by letter carriers in the United States to get the mail from the sender to the post office in the 1860s.  I typically refer to these as carrier covers, and they can be an interesting sub-topic for postal historians.

We're going to start with this 1861 letter that originated in Philadelphia.  There are two postage stamps (1 cent and 3 cent) representing four cents of postage paid to get this letter to Baltimore.  The three cent stamp paid the postage for a simple letter weighing no more than 1/2 ounce within the US, as long as it did not travel over 3000 miles.

Letter Mail Rates in the United States April 1, 1855 - June 30, 1863

Distance	Rate	Per
up to 3000 miles prepaid	3 cents	1/2 ounce
over 3000 miles prepaid	10 cents	1/2 ounce

This particular PHS is concerned about what the blue 1-cent stamp paid for - carriage to the Philadelphia post office.  This could either mean that the letter was picked up by the postal carrier from the sender or some other drop off locations, such as a post box.

A person could also pay to have a letter carrier deliver letters in the larger cities, such as Baltimore and Philadelphia.  The full street address on this envelope tells us it could have been carried to No. 41 Charles Street.  The recipient would have paid one penny for delivery to the carrier - the sender could not prepay for carrier delivery.  But, today we are not going to concern ourselves with delivery.  Instead, we'll focus on carriers getting letters to the mails.

A Service Taken For Granted

While I recognize that fewer and fewer people actually send letters via the postal service, many who read this blog have at least some memory of a time when paying bills and sending written correspondence via the mail was commonplace.  Unless you lived in a small, rural town, you probably have (or had) a postal person delivering mail to your office or place of residence.  If you wanted to send something in the mail, you could simply place it in your mailbox and that same person would pick up your letter and take it to the post office for you.  

That's a good example of carrier service to the mails.  The big difference is that no extra fee beyond the regular postage rate was needed to secure that service.  Prior to July 1, 1863, people who wanted their letter carried to the mails had to pay an extra fee.

from Smithsonian National Postal Museum

I do not live in a town and I also benefit from Rural Free Delivery in the United States.  In other words, I do not have to pay extra to have someone drive by our farm six days a week and drop our mail off in a box that looks a good deal like the one shown above.  And, just like someone who lives in a city with postal carriers, I can place mail into my mailbox and raise the red flag on the side to alert our rural carrier that I have placed a letter(s) into the box that I want them to take to the post office for me without paying more.

The rural service started in the late 1890s, though it was not adopted everywhere at once.  Prior to that point, rural customers had to make a trip to the nearest post office (that could be lengthy) to pick up and drop off mail.  Or, they made arrangements with someone else to drop off or pick up mail.

Well, believe it or not, there was also a time in the United States where even people living in some of our largest cities either had to go to the post office themselves to pick up or send a letter OR they had to pay someone to go to the post office for them.  The 1860s were a key period where carrier services expanded rapidly from the largest cities to smaller cities and towns - which is one reason why I enjoy looking at items from this period in the United States.

A Penny to Carry Your Mail

Here is a similar item showing 1 cent payment a letter carrier to take this envelope to the New York City post office.  In addition the possibility of handing a letter directly to a carrier, New Yorkers could find one of the lamp-post drop boxes scattered throughout the city.  

There were 586 such boxes in 1863 in NYC but there were most likely fewer in 1861 when the letter shown above was mailed.  To my knowledge, there isn't any way to tell whether this envelope was handed to a carrier or taken from one of these boxes.  But, once again, the 1-cent stamp is evidence that the carrier service to the New York post office was paid.  

And, before we move on, there is something different about this cover.  See if you can see it.  If you can't, don't worry, I'll fill you in later!

from Smithsonian

According to Appleton's United States Postal Guide for 1863, carriers visited these boxes six times a day to empty them and take the letters deposited there to the post office.  There were 137 postal carriers employed by the New York City post office if we use the numbers in the report of the Postmaster General for the fiscal year 1863/64.  Their job, in addition to picking up letters from these letterboxes, was to also make deliveries of the mail and collect the one cent carrier fee.

You might be surprised to learn that the first collection box officially sanctioned by the US Post Office was patented in 1858 by Albert Potts.  These were quite small and required frequent emptying.  This, of course, led to larger boxes, including those built under contract with the Post Office by John Murray in 1860.  If this topic interests you, you may enjoy reading the summary provided here by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

There was limited carrier service for pick up and delivery well before the 1860s, which is the period I focus on.  The New York City Directory and Register for 1789 lists at least one letter carrier named Hugh Duncan, as pointed out in this presentation by Calvet Hahn and confirmed by viewing the directory in question (shown below).  There are also covers that exist to show carrier delivery service in Philadelphia as early as 1754.

The motivations for the US Post Office to begin taking carrier pick up and delivery more seriously is a fairly complex question.  I could point to Europe and the history of mail pick-up and delivery that was well established there.  But, that would only serve as the model for some of the ideas that were implemented in the United States.  We need to remember that the majority of the population resided in rural areas and the existing city infrastructures were much younger and less established in the US. 

An Outside Motivation - Protecting Turf

Just as private mail services pushed the US Post Office to provide cheaper postage (and get laws passed to remove the competition), the private services that offered to take mail to and from private homes and businesses encouraged change by providing competition.  One well known private service was called the Blood's Penny Post in Philadelphia.  

Shown above is a letter that was mailed in Philadelphia on September 4, 1861, to Washington, D.C.  A three-cent stamp paid for the domestic postage to get from Philadelphia to D.C., but there is an additional adhesive on this cover that represented payment to Blood's for carrier service.

The Blood's carrier service started in 1845 as D.O. Blood & Co, becoming Blood's Despatch in 1848, and was finally known as Blood's Penny Post in 1854.  At its height, it serviced hundreds of collection boxes throughout Philadelphia that were emptied as many as five times a day.  

If you'll look at the cover above, you'll find a round marking at the bottom left.  It is hard to read, so I can provide you with a similar marking that bears different dates and times.  If the marking on our cover were clearer, we might expect to be able to find out which time of day this letter had been collected by Blood's Penny Post - just as the example below from 1858 illustrates for us.

In September of 1861, the cost for carrier service by Blood's Penny Post to the US Post Office in Philadelphia was one penny.  Blood's started the service at a cost of three cents in 1845, dropping it to 2 cents and then 1 cent (in 1855) as business grew and competitors attempted to get into the fray.  If you are interested in seeing examples of postal history from Blood's and their competitors in Philadelphia you may view them in Vernon Morris' exhibit of Blood's postal history.

It turns out that it can be useful to have the federal government on your side.  The US Post Office had the ability to declare any road or street a "post road."  Once a road or street had that designation it was no longer legal for a private entity to carry the mail via those routes.  In July of 1860, the Postmaster General announced that all streets in Philadelphia were post roads.  As a result, Blood's was technically no longer allowed to carry mail in the city - but they opted to ignore that announcement and continued to provide their services.

However, after the Post Office sought an injunction to prevent Blood's from continuing in 1861, the Penny Post finally shut their doors on January 10, 1862.  If you would like more details about Blood's Penny Post, I suggest you read this article in the Classics Society's Chronicle by Edward Harvey.  And, if that's still not enough for you, you can read this article that expands on certain details by Steven Roth (starts page 4). 

US Postal Carriers in Major Cities

A person can, if they wish, find examples of the US Post Office's penny carrier service in several of the major cities in the early 1860s.  In my own collection, I have examples for New York City, Boston, Brooklyn, Baltimore and Philadelphia (another is shown above).  In each case, a three cent stamp pays for a simple letter weighing no more than 1/2 ounce to travel from one point to another within the United States.  The one-cent stamp pays for the carrier service to the post office.

It is interesting to note that the US Post Office in Philadelphia was not too proud to take a few clues from the successful Blood's Penny Post.  The back of this letter shows a poorly struck postmark that would include the date and time stamp to show which carrier circuit picked the item up.

Rather than show you that marking, because it is hard to read, let me show you a similar marking that bears a different date in time so you can get a feel for what it looks like.

As postal use grew in the 1860s, the number of cities that provided carrier services increased.  And, on July 1, 1863, the one cent fee for carrier service was removed and Free City Delivery was established in the United States. At that time only 49 post offices employed at least one carrier and there were approximately 450 carriers in total.  By 1900, over 400 cities employed nearly 10,000 letter carriers and rural delivery was starting to get a foothold.

Why are Postal Historians Attracted to "Carrier Covers"?

As a postal historian, I appreciate items that provide me with clues that tell me how the letter traveled through the mail. Once we get to the middle of 1863 and the 1 cent fee for carrier pickup to the post office was removed, we lose some of the indicators that might tell us how a letter got to the post office in the first place.  A letter that was picked up from a lamppost drop box will look exactly the same as one that was dropped by the customer at the main post office after July 1st of that year.

That's why items prior to that date, like the cover shown above, have a special attraction.  The mere existence of the 1 cent stamp on this cover tells us that a carrier picked up this item and took it to the post office.  Just a bit more of the story is evident here.  And, because I know it cost 1 cent for a carrier to pick this up, I know the item shown below was NOT taken to the Philadelphia post office by a US post carrier.

Why?  Well, the postmark date is 1861, so the 1 cent carrier fee was in force.  There is no indication of carrier service so it is highly likely it was dropped at the post office.

If this item were dated October 1, 1863 (instead of 1861), I would not have any clues to tell me about the journey this letter took to get to the post office.  It could have been dropped in a post box, handed to a carrier or passed to the postal clerk at the post office.

But, that's not the whole story of what attracts people to items we call "carrier covers."  You've actually gotten a taste of it in this Postal History Sunday.  We have interesting stories involving private local carriers that provided a service that the US Post Office was either neglecting or not doing sufficiently well.  We see evidence of social change as mail was made more accessible to a wider audience.  We see the progress where a convenience that initially required payment eventually becomes an expected free service.

It's a good story.  And you all know how I like a good story.

Bonus Material

The letter that features the Blood's Penny Post stamp is written to a Private James C. Hufty of Colonel Baker's "First California" Regiment, Company C.  Hufty, a 21 year old, enrolled on April 18, 1861 with the First California.  Apparently, Hufty found some way to hold on to the letters he received because there are several envelopes from this correspondence available to collectors.  

Camp Oregon (where this letter was addressed) was part of the defense around Washington, D.C. (to its northwest) and many of these camps included the families of some of the soldiers.  This could, I suppose, help explain how these envelopes survived.  Is it possible he had someone at camp who kept track of these letters for him?  Below is a photo of the 31st Pennsylvania Volunteers encamped at that time near Washington, D.C. (a different unit that did not include Hufty).

Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-cwpb-01663

Private Hufty would be among 553 Federal prisoners taken at the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861.  I have not been able to track Hufty beyond that point in time.

Senator Edward D Baker, of Oregon, formed this regiment largely with volunteers from Philadelphia and New York City, despite what the name might imply.  Baker was a politician and a friend of President Lincoln.  Because he recruited this regiment (and he had connections), Baker was given the commission as Colonel, despite his lack of military training.  This was a fairly common occurrence early in the war, which led to numerous mistakes in early action.

from WikiMedia Commons

The Battle of Ball's Bluff was a prime illustration how the lack of military background cost dearly.  Baker positioned his troops on low ground, putting them at great disadvantage.  They were pressed back to the Potomac where many were killed, captured or drowned in the attempt to retreat.  Baker paid with his life and his incompetence resulted in the creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of War.  The Joint Committee was created to begin addressing the competence of military leadership and to counter politically motivated appointments.

Baker shot at Ball's Bluff - from Library of Congress

After the Senator's (Colonel's) death, the 1st California was renamed the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry, though it was (and is) still often referenced by its original name.  The 71st participated in many major battles, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.  They were mustered out in August of 1864.

If you are interested in more details surrounding the 71st Pennsylvania, the History of Edward Baker's California Regiment, 71st PA Inf. by Gary G. Lash could be of interest to you.  

And one more tidbit for this week

I promised earlier that I would fill you in about the thing that is "different" for the second cover shown in today's Postal History Sunday - so here we are!

The United States Postal Service issued a new design of postage stamps in 1861, releasing them for use in August of that year.  At the same time, the demonetized the older designs of postage stamps - making them no longer valid to pay postage.  The idea was to prevent postmasters and persons in the Confederate States from using older stocks of US postage.

However, there was a period of time where old postage was still allowed and, of course, not every instance where a person tried to use an old stamp was going to be noticed.  While the new designs were different, their colors and designs were similar enough that a person with much to do might miss it.  This is an example of a cover where an old design from the 1851 / 1857 series (the blue one cent stamp) is used with a new 1861 design (the rose colored three cent stamp).

Of course, there is more that can be said about that - but that might be best said in another Postal History Sunday.

Thank you for joining me this week.  I hope you have a great remainder of your day and a fine week to come!

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Postal History Sunday is published each week at both the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  If you are interested in prior entries, you can view them, starting with the most recent, at this location.