Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards

David Shelton Edwards, American, died 1874 · April 4, 1848

The letter was carried by steamboat from Vera Cruz, Mexico to New Orleans, Louisiana on a vessel that did not have a contract to carry mail. To indicate that a steamboat was the source of the letter entering the U.S. mail system, the New Orleans clerk struck the handstamp "STEAM." Perhaps it was carried by Captain McKenzie of the Mississippi steamboat referred to at the start of the letter.