BE114

CSA #12c (AD) (margin close at the top but with a right sheet margin Greenish-Blue) tied by the three line date stamp “NOV 3 1863” with the matching Chicamauga (Ten) semicircular typeset handstamp to the left. Exceptionally strong strikes of these scarce postal markings. Coarse brown paper cover addressed to Mrs. S. C. Wilkinson Care of Mr. Jas Bryson, Macon, Mississippi. Cover most likely sent by Corpl S. C. Wilkinson of Co E 45th Miss Inf to his wife. Cover has been professionally restored to an extremely fine appearance. Chickamauga (also known as Chickamauga Station) is a listed CSA post office in Hamilton County, Ten located near Chattanooga and not far from the Georgia border. As an established CSA post office, the postmaster would have handled mail presented to him by the local inhabitants as well as by any Confederate Army units in the area. During the Chattanooga Campaign (Chattanooga fell to the Union 9/9/1863 and was subsequently placed under siege by the Confederate Army with the Battle of Chickamauga fought 19-20 Sept 1863) the little Chickamauga post office became overwhelmed with army mail. The Chickamauga postmaster first serviced his mail with manuscript markings. But some time during this period, the postmaster made or had made a simple typeset handstamp device with “Chicamauga” (“k” is missing in the handstamp) in a semi-circular configuration with a separate three line datestamp which was used to cancel the stamp. These markings have long been considered as Army of Tennessee field postal markings and are listed as such in the 1986 Dietz Catalog. But that is not necessarily true. While it is true that army covers would receive these marks, Chickamauga as a listed CSA post office was not exclusively set up as an army post office. So the marks could have been used on local civilian mail as well. Therefore, the Chicamauga Semi-Circular handstamp has been removed from the Army Field Cancels section of the new CSA catalog as the editors felt that it was not strictly an army marking. The new CSA Catalog acknowledges the semi-circular mark only in the descriptive text under the Army of Tennessee and unfortuately does not illustrate this very scarce and well-known marking and does not assign it a catalog value. The Chicamauga semi-circular handstamp is quite a scarce item with only perhaps a dozen or so covers known bearing this mark with dates in OCT and NOV 1863. The Chickamauga post office ceased operations in late November 1863 when the Confederate Army abandoned the Lookout Mountain lines and retreated south.

SOLD $3,000.00