MILITARY COURIER from ARKANSAS to TEXAS: CSA 11, 10¢ blue (gum stains) tied neat bold CAMDEN / Ark // OCT / 1 [1863] cds on homemade cover to Mrs. Mattie Yell, Waco, McClennan Co, Texas, from her husband, Col. Fountain Pitts Yell who served the 26th Arkansas Infantry. Cover with sealed tear at upper left and staining along right side. “Courier” noted at lower left. Military mail was taken across the river between Arkansas and Texas by express services such as those run by Bernos and Barksdale of the 2nd Arkansas. Such express covers incurred a charge of $1.00 and catalog $3,500 in the CSA Catalog and are very rare. Others were sent by military courier which presumably achieved the same thing without the additional outlay for postage. Ex Clippert. $1,100.

Fountain Pitts Yell (1834-1864) enlisted 1 July 1862 as Captain in Co. A, 2th Arkansas Infantry and later in reorganized Company S, 26th Arkansas Infantry (also known as Morgan’s Battalion and the 3rd Trans-Mississippi Rifle Regiment). He was promoted through the ranks to full Colonel and took command from Morgan in December 1863. Yell was the nephew of Arkansas Governor Archibald Yell and the son of Major General James Yell. He was a graduated of VMI and Cumberland University law school. He practiced law in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, prior to the war and was a state representative 1860-1861. His wife was named Mattie, to whom this cover was addressed. He was mortally wounded in action at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864, while charging the Union works during the Red River Campaign.