page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
section_title: Postal history exhibits
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States / Covers / Postal history exhibits
caption_attribution_description: English: US Postage on a cover addressed to a "William C Rives Jr Esqr" formerly of Boston, forwarded to Caldwell, N.J., with Louisville, Ky. and Adams Express Company postmarks, 1861. When mail was no longer delivered between the North and South after the Civil War began, express companies would instead carry the mail across the lines. The three major express companies were Adams Express, American Letter Express, and Whiteside's Express. This would continue for about two months before the U.S. Post Office ordered an end to mail delivery to the Confederate States, effective August 26, 1861. Thereafter, mail had to be sent by Flag-of-Truce mail, although express companies continued to do some illegal business.
context_page_description: The postage stamps and postal system of the Confederate States of America carried the mail of the Confederacy for a brief period in American history. Early in 1861 when South Carolina no longer considered itself part of the Union and demanded that the U.S. Army abandon Fort Sumter, plans for a Confederate postal system were already underway. Indeed, the Confederate Post office was established on February 21, 1861; and it was not until April 12 that the American Civil War officially began, when the Confederate Army fired upon US soldiers who had refused to abandon the fort. However, the United States Post Office Department continued to handle the mail of the seceded states as usual during the first weeks of the war. It was not until June 1 that the Confederate Post office took over collection and delivery, now faced with the task of providing postage stamps and mail services for its citizens.
  The CSA Constitution had provided for a national postal service to be established, then required it to be self-financing beginning March 1, 1863.
caption: Adams Express Company postmark, with 'Paid 10' handstamp, 1861
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