Dead Letter Office P.O. Dept. (DLO) bold strike of oval datestamp (CSA Catalog UDL-01, Type A, CV $2,500) with DUE 6 cts. straightline on diminutive cover from Maria Bostick in Robertville, S.C., to her mother, Mrs Smith-Mott, Hamilton, Madison Co[unty], N. York. It is an attempted flag-of-truce use, although it was not accepted as such and was sent to the Dead Letter Office. Original 2-page letter with family news, datelined from Robertville March 27, 1863, with a receipt docketing of June 17.  Second page of letter There is no apparent attempt at paying either Confederate or U.S. postage, so this might have been an inner letter sent under cover with other letters. $950.

The Mott-Bostick correspondence is the subject of Dr. Edward Greenwald’s article “Civilian Flag of Truce Mail - The Mott-Bostick Correspondence” in the Jan-Feb 1974 Confederate Philatelist in which describes these interesting communications and presents flag of truce explanatory tables. A lot was deduced from the many original letters present with some of the covers. The correspondence is also heavily mentioned in Laurence Shenfield’s book and is well known to serious students. This letter is from Maria Bostick, wife of a Confederate soldier, to her mother, Mrs. Smith-Mott.