Vicksburg Miss. to England via Mobile, Havana and the Bahamas. Orange-buff legal-size blockade-run cover with original letter datelined "Vicksburg Miss., Confederate States of America, February 14th 1862", addressed to Carlisle, England, carried on a blockade-runner from Mobile Ala. to Cuba, backstamped "Havana MY 7 1862 A", then carried on the RMSP Trent to St. Thomas, arriving May 13; on the RMSP La Plata to Southampton, arriving June 1, London and Carlisle backstamps (June 2), manuscript "3/-" shillings due (packet rate plus non-payment fine), minor wrinkling

VERY FINE. A RARE BLOCKADE-RUN COVER FROM MOBILE, ALABAMA, TO HAVANA (CUBA), THE BAHAMAS AND LONDON. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED BLOCKADE-RUN COVER POSTMARKED AT HAVANA.

The enclosed letter from Vicksburg is from A. M. Smedes to George Gill Mouncey. Mr. Smedes states he is sending the letter to Mr. Muir to be read and forwarded to Mr. Mouncey. Very little blockade-run mail went through the port of Mobile Alabama, and all of it was carried to or from Havana. The Havana post office normally did not apply markings to mail bound for New York. This was carried by Royal Mail Steamship Company packet service to England and received the Havana postmark -- the only recorded example of outbound blockade-run mail postmarked at Havana

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