Postage Concerning Cane Hill/Boonsboro During the Civil War

 

Below is a picture of the front of a letter mailed to Rev. E.L. Compere, a Baptist missionary to the Indians. In 1862 he became chaplain in the Cherokee Mounted Rifles commanded by Stand Waite, and served throughout the war. This particular cover is from the collection of Confederate Indian covers owned by Judge Harry J. Lemley of Hope, Ark. and is of special interest because it was mailed from Boonsboro (Cane Hill) a month after Arkansas had joined the Confederacy, yet bears a U.S. stamp. In an article in the Confederate Philatelist (November 1960), Judge Lemley described this cover as follows:                 

The writer has in his collection a Confederate cover addressed to "Elder E.L. Compere",        bearing a smudged three-cent United States stamp of 1857 and the circular postmark of Boonsboro, Arkansas, June 19, with "Paid 5" in manuscript and a notation on the edge apparently made by Mr. Compere, "About house of worship in Ft. Smith - 1861." Since the cover is of more than ordinary interest, it is presented here. The sender attached a United States stamp to the cover, not realizing that Arkansas had been admitted to the Confederacy on May 18, 1861, whereas the letter was mailed on June 19, 1861, and hence the postmaster required the sender to pay five cents in money, the appropriate rate at that time, before accepting it for mailing.

Now and then the Washington County Historical Society will receive a query from a stamp collector asking for information about the use of Confederate stamps in northwest Arkansas. As of 1961 they had never seen a letter mailed in northwest Arkansas that bore a Confederate stamp. It is doubtful that any Confederate postal supplies could have reached Washington and Benton counties before the Federal occupation in 1863.

The possibility exists that Confederate soldiers may have brought Confederate stamps with them, into Northwest Arkansas. The McCollom letters,  published by the WCHS, contain one letter in which the writer, a Confederate soldier from Fayetteville who was serving in Mississippi, sent his parents a supply of Confederate 5-cent stamps -- an imperforate block of 8 stamps remains --which, of course, they were unable to use. When Private Albert McCollom wrote to his parents in the fall of 1864 from Little Rock where he was incarcerated as a prisoner of war, his letters were franked with US stamps cancelled with the regular USPO postmark. It is the opinion of the WCHS that if a letter franked with a Confederate stamp and mailed in Washington County ever were to show up, it would be a philatelic rarity of great value.

As for Boonsboro (Cane Hill), all postal operations ceased with the departure of the men for service in the Confederate army. The writer (W.J. Lemke*) has seen the postal cancellations, "Boonsboro, "Boonsborough", "Cane Hill", "Canehill" (the present designation), and even "Steam Mill" (a cover owned by the late Booth Campbell). But has never seen a Cane Hill letter bearing a Confederate stamp or a Boonsboro cancellation dated between 1862 and 1865.

 

 

*Journalist and historian Walter John (W. J.) Lemke (1891-1968) served as a charter member of the Washington County Historical Society and as editor of the historical journal Flashback, while also establishing the Arkansas Genealogical Society. He researched a number of historical topics, including the Civil War and the Baptist Church in the South. In addition, Lemke helped found the department of journalism at the University of Arkansas in 1928, and was involved in several organizations, such as the Arkansas Press Women’s Association and the Arkansas High School Press Association.

 **Taken from FLASHBACK Vol. XI, No. 2 May 1961 pg 32