Kentucky Civil War Era Covers

The two covers below were sent between Kentucky cities to the same Louisville address.

The first is postmarked July 1861 in Lexington, KY, after the stamp it contains was demonetized, I believe, but before Kentucky joined the Confederacy in December of that year. As there probably was little enforcement of the prohibition against using these stamps, particularly, it would seem, for intra-state mailings away from the nation's population centers, such a usage may be quite common.

The second cover from Cloverport, KY, does not have a year in its cancellation, but contains a hand notation of 1863, perhaps taken from the letter it no longer contains. If correctly dated, the town of 920 inhabitants, according to the 1860 census, kept using its demonetization-replacement stamps -- presumably received prior to its December 1861 succession -- during the war.

The letters appear to be addressed to children, possibly written by the same hand.

Any observations, corrections or clarifications would be welcome.

First cover is missing a stamp between the CDS and the remaining stamp.

Kentucky was a "border state", it never was part of the Confederate States.

I don't know who took the missing stamp.

Ah, admitted to the Confederacy (with a shadow government in Western Kentucky) and represented on the Confederate flag with the 13th star, but never officially seceded. That is clarifying.

Thanks.

I am not seeing any evidence of a missing stamp.

I agree, the cancel on that cover gets lighter, but it is still there. Just an optical illusion of a small scan.

Kentucky tried to play both sides against the other, avoiding the hard decisions and being neither bird nor beast and ended up just occupied by the Union, ending the discussion. I submit they were claimed by the CSA, but they certainly never officially voted to join. Kentuckians fought on both sides.

Missouri has similar claims to the confederacy, but their elected officials voted to stay Union.

Johnconn, the EDU of the 3c 1861 is August 17, 1861, and I don't have the date of the 3c 1857's demonetization, but there was a short grace period, so your July 1861 cover was definitely still appropriate and legal.

Thanks, Ray

Johnconn,
Thank you for posting these covers. But yes, there are better references for civil war and postal history than what you have found so far to use. These are both *fully* Union covers. The for first, the grace period occurred in each city as it received its 1861 stamps in the fall, so varied quite a bit throughout the country. Each city has its own grace dates.

Thanks very much for your insights.

How common is the Cloverport PM? Only 1100 people in 2023 so assuming it was a very small town in 1863?

The town appears on a modest growth trajectory, with a population of 920 reported in the 1860 census.