Back to Previous Page This article appeared in the SEP-OCT 1992 issue of the Confederate Philatelist The two illustrations in the original article are not reproduced here as they are essentially the same illustrations as shown on the preceding page.
At first glance, the cover illustrated here seems a rather unimpressive relic of the War Between the States. A very faulty (actually torn and affixed to the cover as two pieces) 5c green Stone 2 lithograph (Scott CSA #1) is tied with an anonymous grid cancel. The cover is soiled and the penciled address is faded and barely legible. Most collectors would hardly give this cover a second look.
In the Confederacy grid cancellations were very often used by army post offices as field cancels. Use of grids by both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee are well known. My initial reaction to the grid on this cover was that it was a new army field cancel. The grid diameter measures 20 mm and contains eight segmented bars; it does not fit any of the known army grids, which have been very thoroughly researched and are listed in the New Dietz. My conclusion was that it was a fake cover having a genuine stamp canceled by a phony grid. But this reasoning did not make a lot of sense because of the pitiful state of stamp and envelope.
The address now became very important. The writing was not legible in visible light, but under long wave ultraviolet illumination, such as used by rock collectors, the address and postmark could be made out. Across the top of the cover is a manuscript "Clarks Mills NC Dec 17." No year date is given. The cover is addressed to Columbia P(ost) O(ffice) NC, but unfortunately the name of the addressee cannot be made out.
Clarks Mills was a very small town in Moore County, North Carolina, southwest of Carthage -- so small that the postmaster probably did not have a postmarking device, hence the manuscript marking. Grids were in fairly common use throughout the 1850s. The postmaster evidently did have access to such a device to cancel the stamp. Columbia, the cover's destination, is in Tyrell County on Albemarle Sound and within 500 miles of Clarks Mills; so, the five-cent rate is appropriate for December 1861.
Thus, with a little research the status of this rather unprepossessing cover increased enormously; it is the only currently recorded cancellation from Clarks Mills. Other examples of this marking may certainly exist buried in collections and unrecorded. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with a similar example of this marking.
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