This article is from the September-October 2002 issue of the Confederate Philatelist. Posted with the permission of the journal editor.

At the 2000 TEXPEX show, I was shown two very sorry looking covers by a Texas dealer. Both covers were addressed to a Captain T. T. Clay but with different Virginia destinations. Most distressingly both had been attacked by some form of insect life, most likely the dreaded termite. The dealer told me he "almost cried" when he was offered these covers by a Texas lady because, although not a Confederate dealer, he realized that if it had been in better condition, one cover would have been a collector' s item.

I "almost cried" too, but with joy, as I was able to buy a Trans-Mississippi Express cover at one-hundredth of the 1986 New Dietz Catalogue value, a larger fraction still of a higher recent auction value of $13,000 plus premium which was paid for a top quality cover of this particular type, though not East to West which appears less cornmon.

As can be seen in the illustration (Figure 1 above), the cover is partly eaten. But all relevant details are there for the enthusiast to see. The two copies of the Confederate 20c Green Stamps are canceled by the double ring postmark of AUSTIN, TEXAS. Unfortunately the date is unreadable. The cover is addressed to Capt T T Clay, Comp I, 5th Regt Texas Vol Inft, Richmond, Virginia. The Fifth Texas Infantry Regiment was assembled in Richmond, Virginia in late 1861 with Texans drawn from many counties of their home state. Many were from around the Houston area and fought through the conflict with the Army of Northern Virginia apart from a period with General Longstreet at Chickamauga and Knoxville. More than half of the Fifth Texans engaged at Gettysburg were lost. The remnants of the regiment - one officer and 148 enlisted men and non-commisioned officers - were present at the April 1865 surrender at Appomattox Court House.

In the late Richard Kreiger' s book on Trans-Mississippi mails, only three covers are recorded to Texas soldiers in Virginia. One of these three covers is also addressed to Capt Clay, Co I, 5th Regt Texas Vol, Longstreet' s Corps, Richmond, Va. In the April 12, 2000 Segel Auction Catalog of Dr. Howard Green' s superb collection, the catalog states "No more than twenty covers with a pair of the 20c Green paying the Trans-Mississippi Express rate are known, of these only five or six are in reasonably clean and sound condition; the majority are heavily stained and damaged." One more cover to add to the listings!

I was asked by a member of the Alliance if I was going to have this cover "restored" to which question my answer is " NO." This tattered reminder of the "Lost Cause" will have a very respected place - whatever judges may feel - in my Army of Northern Virginia collection and exhibit despite its condition.

By the way, in my enthusiasm for the above cover, I have forgotten to mention the second cover also addressed to Captain Clay but at Botator Springs, Virginia (probably Botetourt Springs, Roanoke County). The cover has a upper left vertical corner pair of De La Rue 5c Typographs canceled RICHMOND Va. AUG 8, 1862 (Figure 2 above).

My trip to Dallas which apart from the enjoyable company particularly drinks at "Tiffin" (an Anglo-Indian expression for liquor time in the afternoon) was made by the addition of these two items to my collection at a total expediture of $100.00.

References:

1. Skinner, H. C., E. R. Gunter and W. H. Sanders. The New Dietz Confederate States Catalog and Handbook. Miami FL: Bogg & Laurence Publ. Co. Inc., 1986.

2. Krieger, R. The Trans-Mississippi Mails After The Fall of Vicksburg. New York: The Philatelic Foundation, 1984.

3. Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries Inc. The Howard P. Green Collection of Confederate States Covers Sale 822. New York: April 12, 2000.

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