CSA 13, 10¢ green pair, small margins to cutting in, tied by MOBILE ALA. // ? 5 double-circle datestamp on westbound Trans-Mississippi Express cover to Col. Ben Allston, Gen. Kirby Smith's staff, Shreveport La., Trans Miss Department, reduced at left and missing top back flap. No more than 20 covers with a pair of the 20¢ green paying the 40¢ Trans-Mississippi Express rate are known. Most of the known covers are heavily stained and damaged. This cover is one of several known from the Col. Ben Allston correspondence, each paying the 40¢ Trans-Mississippi rate. Unlisted in Krieger. Ex Felton. SCV $4,500. $2,750.

Benjamin Allston (1833-1900) was an 1853 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, a rice planter, a postwar Episcopal minister, and a colonel, CS Army. He was born in Charleston, S.C., the son of Robert Francis Withers and Adele (Petigru) Allston, His father was a graduate of West Point in 1821, surveyor general of South Carolina and governor of that State, 1856-57. In January 1863, Col. Ben Allston was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi department as inspector general for General Kirby Smith and continued in this capacity until the surrender.