Vicksburg, Mississippi - February 15, 1864

Just came across this Civil War-era cover that was given to me as a young stamp collector in my pre-teens:



From a philatelic perspective, it wasn't worth much as both stamps were damaged when I acquired it, but I began to appreciate its worth more as a Civil War-era item, especially because of the date (1864) and the infamous Civil War connection to Vicksburg, and the fact that it was being sent all the way to Vermont in the midst of that conflict.

Great cover with a lot of wonderful history.




Butch

wow, just wow... if you ever want to sell it. let me know.

WT1,

It is a nice cover but I'm not sure that there is a civil war linkage other than that it was posted from a location where several battles had occured and during the time that the war was still ongoing.

As best I can tell, the only Vermont unit that was engaged in the Vicksburg area, the 7th Vermont Infantry Regiment, took part in the failed seige during June-July 1962. The order of battle for Union forces for the Vicksburg campaign, from May-July 1863 shows no Vermont units participating (see http://www.civilwarhome.com/siegeofvicksburg.htm).

Around the time the letter was posted, it appears that most of the Vermont unit engagements were in Virginia. (Here is a good resource regarding Vermont's civil war history: http://www.vermontcivilwar.org/index.php)

Like Vicksburg, West Randolph, VT has a bit of civil war history tied to it -- it was the location where two companies of what would become the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharp Shooters were formed.

There was a William F. Tilson on Vermont's roles and he was probably related to the letter's recipient because he was part of the 2nd US Sharp Shooters. But it is unlikely that he posted the letter because he unit was in Virginia at the time. Tilson was wounded in the Wilderness campaign in May 1864, again at Petersburg in April 1865, and ultimately discharged because of wounds in September 1865.

It is possible that a 7th Vermont Infantry soldier who was wounded and/or captured in the Vicksburg area (or deserted while there) posted the letter but without its contents, I guess that remains left to the imagination.

Steve

[Edited to correct errors. Thanks, revstampman! ]

Longest enlistment in US History!

Sorry Steve I just had to.

I don't know if there's specifically a Civil War linkage to the cover either. I did a quick search of Vermont census and genealogy records and found that Ruth M. Tilson (a/k/a Ruth Maria Tilson) was born on December 29, 1840 in Randolph, Vernmont, daughter of Gilbert Tilson and Maria (Ford) Tilson and that Ruth M. Tilson was married on December 20, 1864 to an Alonzo G. Bradish.

The Vermont Civil War link above suggests there was an Alonzo G. Bradish of Montpelier, VT in the war.

Again, without content or a return address it is impossible to surmise who would have been the actual sender of the letter.

It is interesting to see the use of United States stamps. Vicksburg surrendered july 1863, so US postal service would have been re-established.

If you go to this website, http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/a/parksvi...20OCCUPATION, you can see the order given by Grant reestablishing postal service. He limited it to designated military authorities, so the cover would have to have been associated with a military person.

Isn't it interesting that the author of the website calls it the "occupation" of Vicksburg

hey folks, an important thing to remember is that sometimes mail did not get posted for many months. and people would hand letters to other soldiers who were going towards a post office.
here is some more info..




my source is from the genealogy website and the US Civil war archives.

That's one of the more intriguing aspects of this hobby -- you can spend a lifetime trying to make sense of it all!

here is another tie in...

when people immigrated to the USA they had to list where they were staying and with who..

Mary Dolan came here and was here 5 years and this record was made.. notice the birth of Ruth Maria Tilson is 1840 and 59 years later( 1899) there is the entry below.


This proves beyond a doubt that Bradish was married to Tilson. Since Bradish and the other Tilson were in the area before the postmark on the letter, it is 99.9% probable that this is in fact a ware related document.

I don't think the above info. is quite correct on the marriage date. First, the cover itself would not have been addressed to "Miss Ruth M. Tilson" in February 1864 if she were married prior to it; second, the U.S. Census for 1870 confirms her marriage to Alonzo Bradish on December 20, 1864; and third, the LDS web site "familysearch.org" confirms this also:






I agree. It can be a challenge in itself to research all of the family history behind a cover.

i got the year wrong on the marriage... it said 1864 I typed 1863
as for the day... several places it says dec 20, others it says Dec 5..

who knows? either one still is valid for our purposed here.

And yet another tie in. It seems that Alonzo G. Bradish paid someone to serve for him in the Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment.




A book on the 2nd VVI Regiment by Paul G. Zeller identifies that individual as Augustus Constant from Montpelier. Constant served of his own accord from June 9, 1861 until he was discharged for disability on February 12, 1863. He served again, this time in place of Bradish, from July 11, 1863 until he was mustered out on July 15, 1865.

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm fascinated by the journey that the address and cancellation on WT1's cover has prompted.

Steve

yeah , me too... maybe it was a relative of Ruth that wrote her?