Mail Delivery

[rebelfirefighter07]

Me and one of my pards have been discussing holding some small immersion type drills/events within our company. We were planning to have letters made prior to the event and give them out to the men. I was just wondering if there are any accounts that tell how these letters are delivered. I assume that the men would be given mail while in formation and their names would be called out. Are there any special commands that be should be given. Would this be handled by the First Sgt or someone of higher rank? I have nothing to support this assumption so hopefully somebody here can help me out.

[KarinTimour]

Re: Mail Delivery

At Red River 2, mail was delivered by the postal authorities to the Quartermaster, already bundled by company, but I bet that would have been done by the Quartermaster's staff. The Quartermaster distributed each company's mail to it's First Sgt, who then distributed it.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
One-time Period Confederate Postmistress of Pleasant Hill, LA
Kabuki Postal Organizer - Military mail, Red River 2
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Mail Delivery

How would one estimate the length of time that it took mail to get from home to where a soldier was stationed? For example, a person from Central Iowa (Des Moines) to Atlanta? Two weeks? A month?

[orngblsm]

Re: Mail Delivery

Bob,

Just as a reference point for mail delivery time. A box of local papers left Goshen, NY Monday Dec. 5th 1864 and was in the company street of the 124th NY at Brandy Station, Va three days later. Not to shabby if you ask me.

Respectfully,

[KarinTimour]

Re: Mail Delivery

Dear Bob:

As with so many questions during the War, it could vary depending on the year, whether the unit was on campaign and where the letter was addressed.

Taking your question about Iowa to Atlanta -- are you talking before, during or after Sherman took Atlanta? If before, my understanding is that the letter had to cross the lines and this would happen at a "truce boat" and then travel through the Confederate post. I'd actually like to know a lot more about this process if someone else knows about it. I know very little about it.

During Sherman's March, there are numerous references to the soldiers being without mail or having the mail be very disrupted. As I understand it, one of the attractions of getting to Savannah was that when they got there, their mail (having been sent by water) met them there, and many of them had numerous letters waiting.

If the soldier in question was in a garrison, or in an established camp (like Brandy Station) that was either a) in US territory or b) within an area occupied by the Federal Army, mail delivery was one of the quickest amenities that commanders would re-establish. It's value in maintaining morale was incalculable and commanders knew that. It's also interesting to see how fast the mail would be getting through to army camps.

If there are specific years or locations that you're interested in, if I've got a diary or a letter collection that covers that area, would be happy to double check for you.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Matt_E_Wright]

Re: Mail Delivery

At Red River 2, mail was delivered by the postal authorities to the Quartermaster, already bundled by company, but I bet that would have been done by the Quartermaster's staff. The Quartermaster distributed each company's mail to it's First Sgt, who then distributed it.

On that note, does anyone have a source for the quartermaster handling mail? Today it makes its way to the 1st Sergeants via the Adjutant.

Matt Wright

[orngblsm]

Re: Mail Delivery

Don't have a source for quartermasters handling mail. But the 124th New York Chaplain, Scott Bradner, handled all the mail going in and out of the regiment through 1864. The mail bag would always be hanging on his tent for those wishing to mail letters. Just something else to stir into the pot....

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Mail Delivery

Thank you all for your feedback. As usual, vagaries and obfuscations shroud the path to my point. I am going to Bummers, and was wondering when to estimate an Iowa postmark for delivery to Federal troops in the locality of Atlanta prior to the severance of communications with points North. From the help of others posting in this thread, it would appear that a letter mailed perhaps as late as the end of October stood a healthy chance of getting into the hands of its soldier-recipient. Excellent.

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: Mail Delivery

The letters would have a good chance of making to the soldiers in a static camp in a relatively short time. But with Bummers you have to conside a couple of things.

If the army is on the march the letter is going to take a lot longer if it was delivered at all. Once Sherman cut his supply lines there was no way for the mail service to get the mail to his troops and before that Forrest etal were working on cutting his supply lines for him and that had to affect mail deliver.

I somehow doubt that POs in the line of march would make any effort to deliver the mail to the invaders even if somehow they had received them.

Maybe your immersion might be having soldiers pull old letters out of their packs to read around the fire to kindle memories of what was happening at home and to create a longing to get to the sea so letters could catch up with them.

[Hoosier Yank]

Take a look at the few examples that I provided. All in all for 1864 the turn around time wasn’t that bad for mail and the mail was getting to the troops.

When I was onboard the USS AMERICA (CV 66) in the middle of the Indian Ocean back in 1984 it took just as long or sometimes even longer just to receive a letter from Indianapolis!

Taken from “Soldiering with Sherman The Civil War Letters of George F. Cram” Cram served with the 105th Illinois Infantry and was from Wheaton, Illinois.

Chattahoochee River (GA) Nov. 9, 1964

“Dear Mother, I have this moment received your letter of Oct. 30th”

Four miles northeast of Savannah (GA) Dec. 18, 1864

“Dear Mother, Today for the first time in more than a month our little band was made happy with mail.”

Taken from “Three Years with the 92d Illinois The Civil War Diary of John M. King” King hailed from Rockford, Illinois.

Huntsville, Alabama, January 19, 1864

“Dear Father, I received your kind letter of Jan 1.”

September 6, 1864, Sandtown, Georgia

“Nate Davis, of Co. K was capture while carrying the mail to the regiment.”

“In Song and Sorrow, The Daily Journal of Thomas Hart Benton McCain of the 86th Indiana Volunteer Infantry” and “On to Atlanta, The Diary of John Tomey” both mention mail coming in and going out on a regular basis. However, they don’t mention the actual dates of the letters that they had received from home.