This article is from the October - December 2010 issue of the Confederate Philatelist. Posted under a prior agreement with the then journal editors in effect since the early days of this website.

Vicksburg, Miss Sailor's (Due) 10 CS Str Arkansas. Sailor's due covers are extremely rare. In my almost 55 years of collecting, I have only seen one which is illustrated above. Notwithstanding, my guess is that there are a few more of these rare covers out there resting comfortably in someone's Confederate cover collection. The above Sailor's (Due) 10 cover is particularly nice in that it was mailed from a CS Navy ship, the CSS Arkansas, also popularly known as the Ram Arkansas. It has a Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 25, 1862, double circle cancellation with a handstamped (Due) l0. It was sent by Lieutenant John Grimball, CS Navy, stationed on board the CSS Arkansas to his father, J. Berkley Grimball of Spartanburg, South Carolina. About two weeks after this letter was mailed, the CSS Arkansas, was ordered to cooperate with Major General John C. Breckinridge in the Confederate attack upon Union forces at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. However, the ship was plagued with repeated engine problems which forced it into the bank of the Mississippi River about five miles above Baton Rouge. The next day, on August 6, 1862, the crippled ship was burned under enemy fire to prevent its capture. Union Admiral David G. Farragut stated in a communication to Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles that it was one ofthe happiest moments in his life to be able to report the destruction of the infamous CSS Arkansas.

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