To understand the importance of the Confederate mail system, one only has to look at a tattered and dirty envelope carried through the war by a Confederate soldier. Numerous other items could have been put in his knapsack but he chose to keep and carry the letter. Or perhaps read a letter from a soldier where he tells of its importance.
"Your sweet letters are more important to me than anything else. You do not know how it gladdens my heart to hear the messenger say "a letter from your wife. My tent seems a palace and I am as happy as I can possibly be."
The post office of the Confederate era was not as we know today. Except for major distribution offices such as Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington, the Confederate post office was most likely a table within a room of an individual's home or in a general store or local tavern. It must be remembered that in many small communities the post office was the focal point of social intercourse. Mail days were one of the only times the people in isolated rural areas came together. They waited at the post office eager for news from a relative, a newspaper or reassuring letters from the war front. There were no e-mail, telephone, radio or television. All news came either by the mail or from someone else verbally.
The Confederate Provisional Constitution, adopted on February 8, 1861, stated the post office department would be supported out of its own revenue. No previous U.S. postal operation had been able to do so. On February 21, 1861, the lawmakers established the Confederate Post Office Department, the head of which would be a full cabinet member reporting directly to President Davis. This Postmaster General's position became the toughest of all cabinet positions to fill. Two officials from Mississippi turned Davis down. After three requests, John Henninger Reagan finally accepted the position -- knowing it would be a tough task.
Reagan realized that he needed to surround himself with qualified postal personnel. Through a friend in Washington, Reagan was able to contact the important Southern employees of the federal post office. They were asked to take positions in the Confederate post office. Within two weeks, Reagan had filled five principal post office slots and filled many minor positions. These employees brought with them not only their knowledge but an estimate $100,000 value in maps, forms, blanks and route book information.
Captain Schwarzman of North Carolina, formerly head of the dead letter office in Washington, became the principal clerk of the Appointment Bureau. He retired from this position in January, 1862. Several additional North Carolinians were appointed to high offices within the postal system. They included Robert Cochran, J. H. Patterson, Willis F. Riddick and Bartholomew Fuller.
On May 20, 1861, North Carolina passed an ordinance of secession and on May 27, 1861, the state entered the Confederacy. On June 1, 1861, the federal postal system was ordered to cease operations in the Southern states.
Reagan's first actions were to ask existing Postmasters and route agents to stay on at old U.S. contracts. He negotiated a 50% reduction in the railroad rates for carrying the mail, and most importantly he increased the postal rates from 3 cents to 5 cents per half ounce letter going less than 500 miles and 10 cents if further than 500 miles.
It would be October 1861 before the first postage stamps would be available for Southern citizens to use. With Union postage invalid, Postmasters had to revert back to Antebellum times where envelopes were handstamped paid when they were brought into the post office. With a shortage of change, Postmasters were forced to keep accounts of their patrons.
A few Postmasters issued their own stamp as a means of prepayment. The most noted North Carolinian was George Washington Finley Harper, Postmaster of Lenoir. He carved the design of a stamp in a block of holly wood on September 19, 1861. Shortly thereafter he had 500 copies printed. Fewer than 30 of these stamps are known today. Other officers which had provisional stamps or envelopes produced were Chapel Hill, Statesville, Franklin, Milton, Greensboro, Raleigh, Salisbury, Hillsboro and Salem.
At the onset of the war, North Carolina had 1,054 post offices. Except for larger offices such as Raleigh where the Postmaster was paid $2,500 a year, most Postmasters made less than $200 a year. The normal route carrier made a few hundred dollars. Reagan had the foresight to have postal employees exempt from serving in the military. This helped keep employees but in many cases brought about a less than desirable labor force. By the end of the war, soldiers were bidding 1 cent to carry the mail on postal routes in order to get out of fighting. They knew they would be able to do other things once they got home. Women were seldom used in postal positions because only single women could be legally bonded. Thus, only unmarried or widowed women would have been eligible.
By November 1861, out of 1,054 North Carolina Postmasters, only 741 had been reappointed by the Confederacy. Nineteen had been discontinued, thus 264 offices were unaccounted for. Many of these continued to operate as postal markings exist today.
The Postmasters at large offices had numerous duties beyond the mail. The duties of George T. Cooke, Postmaster of Raleigh, is a good example. He had to coordinate the seven mail routes coming into Raleigh with the North Carolina and the Raleigh and Gaston railroad. This was no easy task as troop transport often upset the postal schedules. Cooke also had to oversee several railroad route agents and a messenger service which carried the mail from the train depot to the post office.
Mail was carried on the rail lines in specialty built mail cars. Route agents traveled in these cars to sort and process the mail along the way. This was a most unpleasant job. The North Carolina railroad route from Goldsboro to Charlotte on a good day had 23 stops and took 15 hours. The job was seven days a week. No wonder the agents began to think of their mail cars as home. The Post Office Department refused to allow anyone to ride along with the agents. Deprived of companionship, some agents turned to bottled stimulants which played havoc on the mail delivery.
Most mail cars had no heat and the War Department would quite frequently use the mail cars to ship dead soldiers home. No wonder complaints were the norm for route agents.
In the first year of operation, the post office sold $692,067 in postage stamps. The second year it sold $2,392,332. Much of this had to do with the fact stamps were unavailable much of the first year and the postal rate was increased to 10 cents for any distance on July 1, 1862. However, stamps began to play another important role in the community. Many of the postage stamps being purchased were used as small change in lieu of available coins.
Unfortunately, the conditions of the Confederacy was such that when remedies could be found they had only superficial effects. Shortages in mail sacks, locks, keys, twine and paper began to hinder the postal operation, not to mention the deteriorating railroad system.
Some states became guilty of hoarding their materials. One such instance, which affected the Post Office Department, took place in Cedar Falls, North Carolina. George Makepeace contracted to deliver 2,500 pounds of twine to the Postmaster. Makepeace failed to deliver the twine on account of being engaged in the manufacture of it for the State of North Carolina.
By the end of the war almost everything was in short supply. Letters were reused, envelopes were turned inside out and reused. Paper was in short supply. It was not uncommon to see a letter written in one direction turned sideways and written in the other direction to conserve paper.
When the war ended, the Confederate postal operations had made a profit every year. Something which had never been done by the U.S. postal system. However, in achieving self-sufficiency, the post office sacrificed service for efficiency and economy in the Post Office Department. By the end of the war more mail was being carried outside the system, by soldiers going and coming, than was being carried by the system.
Reagan accomplished his goal of a profitable postal system but the people of the state suffered for it.