"Franking" letters

[Michael Comer]

I have been reading Southern Storm by Noah Trudeau. On page 466, he describes the reaction of Sherman's men outside Savannah when they finally received a mail call. Of course, there were many who wanted to answer those letters and send something back home.

Trudeau quotes the postmaster for the 1st Div. 14th Corps as saying
"...three hundred dollars' worth of stamps which I obtained for the Division was only a fraction of what were wanted for the first mail out from Savannah and I was kept busy franking letters that there were no stamps for."

Anyone know what he means by the term "franking"?

[AndrewGrim]

Re: "Franking" letters

As I know the term “franking” is used to send letters with out post office stamps. Congress and the Senate have the privilege still. Antique Road show just had a letter from then Congressman Gerald Ford with his signature for a stamp.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: "Franking" letters

"Franking" refers to the privilege that certain government officials had of sending their correspondence through the mails free. Most notoriously, this applied to congressmen, but one also finds the term applied to officers, all of whom were allowed to send their official returns free, by marking them "official business" and signing them.

The privilege also came to be allowed to soldiers sending letters home. This didn't actually allow the letter to be sent free, but it allowed them not to pre-pay (instead the addressee would pay when they picked it up at the Post Office).

Here's a description of the practice from "The National Almanac and Annual Record" 1863, under the heading "The Franking Privilege" (p. 209):

"Postmasters at or near any camp or point occupied by the United States forces will mail, without prepayment of postage, any letter written by a soldier in the service of the United States, and certified to as such by the major or acting major of the regiment to which the writer is attached, or by any acting field or staff officer in the service of the United States. At hospitals or detached poets, this certificate may be made by the chaplain or surgeon stationed thereat.

"The envelope should have plainly stamped or written on its face the certificate "soldier's letter" signed in writing by one of the officers aforesaid, describing his regiment by its number and its State, or his official position."

[benjclark]

Re: "Franking" letters

Looking for the story about the congressman (maybe a senator) who sent a horse by train by franking him.