An interesting fact about Civil War Madison County is that it was home to a Confederate post office. Being located here was most unusual because Kentucky was not a state in rebellion. The post office was located in that part of the county known as "Old Cane Springs." Specifically, it was in what was called the "rockhouse." The post office was as operational as it could have been during the 1862 battles nearby.

During the Civil War, Federal post offices were often located in the postmasters' homes, as was the case in Richmond, Kentucky. That wasn't possible for the rockhouse for a couple of reasons. First, it was a secret Confederate post office in neutral Kentucky. Second, it wasn't a true post office at all. No postage stamps were sold and no letter covers were franked or cancelled. Mail from the south was brought by courier, addressed, "rock house, Kentucky," and was promptly dispatched from the rockhouse. On rare occasions the addressee was summoned to retrieve the letter. In most cases, this manner of mail distribution was the only way information could get from the southern battlefields to the soldiers' family members in this area.

There is no known official establishment of this Confederate post office. Such would have violated Kentucky's stated neutrality. This so-called post office, in addition to delivering the mail, served other important purposes in furthering the Confederate cause.

The post office was situated on a clandestine trail that ran from Atlanta to Cincinnati. The local stretch of that trail was known as the "grapevine route." As that name suggests, it functioned as a communications medium. It was used at night by secessionists carrying oral intelligence - information - as well as letters. Local men desiring to enlist in the Confederate army used this trail. Southern prisoners who had escaped from Union prison camps in Chicago and Columbus used it. The rockhouse was near Muddy Creek and somewhat central between Winchester and Irvine (Figure 1 below). It was kept stocked with straw ticks on which men could sleep during the day and with a supply of food. During the war, the precise location of the Rockhouse was kept secret from the local Home Guards. If they discovered travelers on the road, they would arrest them and take them before Richmond's provost marshal, Capt P. P. Ballard. Those arrested would then be strongly encouraged to take an oath of allegiance, and failing that, they were jailed.

Figure 1 -- Contemporary map of central Kentucky where "the rockhouse" was located. Winchester is at upper center and Irvine at lower right; Muddy Creek run vertically just below the center of the map. (From Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.

The only known postmistress of the rockhouse post office was Old CaneSprings resident Mary Ann Oldham. She claimed she had been appointed by President Jefferson Davis, who appropriately notified her of the appointment. At the time, Mary Ann was only 15 years old. She was one of many who stocked the rockhouse with food and supplies. When needed, she provided guides on the grapevine route. In 1865, she married Nathan B. Deatherage of Old Cane Springs. He was a Confederate prisoner of war; and when released in 1865, he walked from Richmond, Virginia to Richmond, Kentucky utilizing part of the grapevine route.

Despite some embellishment in the record and a carryover of wartime deception, there is little question that a site existed in Old Cane Springs where southern intelligence information and mail were exchanged. Its existence and exact location were well-guarded secrets during the war; and because of its very nature, records concerning it are sparse.

For more information on Old Cane Springs, Mary Ann Oldham, Nathan Deatherage, the grapevine routes or the rockhouse, please see When the Pears Fell by D. Warren Lambert; Old Cane Springs by John Cabel Chenault and Jonathan Truman Dorris; and Map of Madison County, Kentucky by D. G. Beers and Co.

Editors'Notes: Kentucky's initial neutrality was nullified by the Confederate occupation of Columbus, Hickman, and other points in the state in October 1861. This does not discount the import of "the rockhouse" as a communications point for the Confederates.

Mary Ann Oldham's claim of appointment was spurious because she was underage and by law could not have been appointed as a postmistress. Only single women, older than 21 could serve as postmistresses. This restriction was made clear in a series of letters from the Appointment Bureau in 1862-63.