SOUTHN. LETTER UNPAID. Bold two-line handstamp ties 3c Dull Red, Ty. III (26) on small cover to Richfield Springs N.Y., stamp has s.e. at right, faint gum toning and tiny nick at corner, additional pen cancel, matching blue "DUE 3" straightline and Louisville Ky. double-circle datestamp on backflap (part of which is torn away), originated in Confederate States with "Murfreesborough N.C. Jul. 6" (1861) circular datestamp, "Paid" and "10" C.S.A. rate handstamps, waterstains at bottom and lower right have been lightened

ALL MARKINGS CLEARLY STRUCK ON AN ATTRACTIVE SMALL COVER. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE "SOUTHERN LETTER UNPAID" HANDSTAMP USED TO CANCEL THE UNITED STATES 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE.

The U.S. May 27 suspension order prohibited post offices from forwarding southbound mail to disloyal Southern states. However, northbound mail continued to be sent via Louisville. Through June 6, northbound mails were forwarded to Louisville from Memphis or Nashville. From June 7 through 12, only the Nashville post office forwarded mail to Louisville, and Louisville continued to forward mail north. With the resignation of W. D. McNish as Nashville's Federal postmaster on June 12 and the withdrawal of the U.S. mail agent from this route, Louisville held the mails still being sent north by the discontinued post office at Nashville. On June 24, Dr. John J. Speed, the postmaster at Louisville, was advised to forward letters from the South to the loyal states after removing postage. With approximately 5,000 such letters accumulating at Louisville by this date, Postmaster Speed employed a more practical means of invalidating postage by creating the "Southn. Letter Unpaid" handstamp. Louisville started marking letters on June 25, but this first group did not have a datestamp. The subsequent group and all of those thereafter have the Louisville circular datestamp (June 27, 28 and 29 being the most common dates).

United States postage stamps and stamped envelopes used from the South were regarded as contraband and were refused as prepayment. There are 29 "Southn. Letter Unpaid" covers recorded in the Special Routes book (No. 25 has been deleted as a fake since publication), of which only 13 have the 3c U.S. adhesive stamp used to pay the domestic rate. Two of the 13 are used with the New Orleans provisional, and one is in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, leaving only ten 3c 1857 Issue stamped covers with the "Southn. Letter Unpaid" marking.

Special Routes Census No. SLU-24. Ex MacBride and Nunnelley

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SOUTHN. LETTER UNPAID. Bold two-line handstamp ties 3c Dull Red (26) on small cover to Richfield Springs N.Y., stamp has s.e. at right, faint gum toning and tiny nick at corner, additional pen cancel, matching blue "DUE 3" straightline and Louisville Ky. double-circle datestamp on backflap (part of which is torn away), originated in Confederacy with "Murfreesborough N.C. Jul. 6" (1861) circular datestamp with "Paid" and "10" handstamps, waterstains at bottom and lower right have been lightened

ALL MARKINGS CLEARLY STRUCK ON AN ATTRACTIVE SMALL COVER. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE "SOUTHERN LETTER UNPAID" HANDSTAMP USED TO CANCEL A 3-CENT 1857 STAMP.

Beginning June 1, 1861, with the termination of U.S. postal service in the seceded states, stamps on mail originating from a Confederate post office were considered invalid. In August, with the release of the new 1861 Issue, old stamps were demonetized in the North.

Ex MacBride