US 26, 3¢ dull red tied light indistinct small circular datestamp of WILSONVILLE ALA with faint date but is unquestionably an Unlisted Confederate Use of U.S. postage on a RARE 8-STAR FLAG PATRIOTIC. It is CSA Catalog type F8-12, which is shown in black and white in the catalog instead of color. It is quite rare, thus a color image was unavailable to 2012 editors. ONLY TWO RECORDED in Dietz. CCV $5,000. Virginia was the 8th state to join the Confederacy on May 7, 1861. Alabama joined on February 4, 1861, thus this is assuredly a Confederate Use of U.S. postage. Cover has small professional restorations, mostly on back flap; addressed to “Miss Davis, Tutoress at Ladiga, Ala.” On verso, her name and address are shown in the same writing as “Sallie C. Davis, Cross Plains, Ala.” Today Cross Plains is known as Piedmont, which is 85 miles from Wilsonville. RARE AND SHOWY. The topic of a 2023 column in La Posta. $3,000.

Wilsonville, Alabama, was established about the time the Indians were driven out of Alabama. The town was named for early settler Adam or Elisha Wilson, depending on whom you consult. The town was on the old Montgomery stagecoach road. An early settler named Russell owned the mail route, which was carried on horseback. There was a relay station at the Wallace Plantation, four miles north of Wilsonville. The railroad was built through Wilsonville to Talladega with wooden rails. It was later extended to Rome, Georgia. The depot is the oldest one in Shelby County and was put together with wooden pegs. For many years there were six passenger trains a day. During the Civil War, forts at Yellow Leaf Creek Bridge and the Coosa River Bridge were overrun by Union troops. After the war, the town grew rapidly. It was incorporated in 1897 and the population mostly fluctuated between roughly 600 and 1,800. In 2022, Wilsonville had a population of 1,863.