Below are two covers of letters sent by Private Samuel M. Wells to his sister, Miss Martha L. Wells of Clover Bottom in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Private Wells is in District 15 of the 1860 Sullivan County census with William Wells, assumed to be his father. Samuel was enlisted in Company B, 19th Regiment (General Clarke’s Brigade), Tennessee Infantry, CSA on September 7, 1861 for a period of one year by Colonel Cummings near Cumberland Gap.  On the regimental return of December 1861, he is listed as being “absent sick.” On the muster roll card of May 11, 1863, it is noted that he died August 13, 1862. No location or cause of death is given.

According to the information on his muster roll cards, the date on the Zollicoffer-postmarked cover has to be 1862, and it’s assumed that Samuel probably stayed on sick leave in Sullivan County, since the soldier franking was mandatory on any “postage due” letters. At the bottom is written “Breckinridge’s Division” (spelled phonetically.) At the time of the postmark (August 14, 1862) this unit was in the far western theater around Vicksburg or Louisiana. How did it get back to Sullivan County?

The Zollicoffer postmark is fairly rare in Confederate philately. The Cumberland Ford, Kentucky postmark is unique! This cover is the first one found to be postmarked from this very shortly occupied Eastern Kentucky town (about 6 weeks.) In the southwestern area of Kentucky, the Confederates occupied various towns including Columbus, Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, etc.

These postmarks are rare but known. Until this cover surfaced, no eastern Kentucky Confederate-occupied town postmark was known. By the handwriting it is obvious that both covers were penned by the same hand, and evidently the Zollicoffer one was his last, evidently posted after Samuel’s passing. Since the Kentucky cover was “Paid,” no soldier franking was necessary.

Photos and philatelic history submitted by Larry Baum. Military service information from the Compiled Confederate Service Records in the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA.)