Express from Richmond to Louisville posted to Boston cover

August 17, 1861

Letter posted in Richmond, Virginia, August 17, 1861, and handstamped Paid 10, paying the Confederate postage as required for a distance beyond 500 miles. From there the letter was transmitted in the care of the Adams Express Company and transported to Louisville, Kentucky, where the express company affixed a 3-cent 1857 U.S. postage stamp and placed the letter in the regular U.S. postal system for delivery to Boston. By the time the letter arrived in Boston, the new 3-cent 1861 postage stamps had been introduced in that city, thus the old 1857 stamp was not recognized for payment, and the letter was marked "DUE 3 CENTS." Since the addressee had moved on to Caldwell, New York, the letter was forwarded to that city with an additional charge of another "due" three cents.