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Confederate States
September 1861
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| Confederate States #1 |
Imperforate, no watermark, lithographed.
Printed by Hoyer & Ludwig, Richmond, Virginia
| Description | Date issued | Scott# | SG# | Mi# | Y&T# | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 cents green | Sep 1861 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 5c light green | 1a | 1a | ||||
| 5c dark green | 1b | 1b | ||||
| 5c olive green | 1c | 1c | SG1d bluish green | |||
| 10c blue | Oct 1861 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 10c light blue | 2a | |||||
| 10c dark blue | 2b | |||||
| 10c indigo | 2c | |||||
| 10c greenish blue | 2e |
Sc#2d is the 10c issue printed on both sides
In December 1860 a state convention in South Carolina repealed the 1788 Act ratifying the US constitution, effectively seceding from the Union and within eight weeks six other states, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas did the same. Delegates from the seven states met in February 1861 and formed the government of the Cofederate States with Jefferson Davis as president. Steps were immediately taken to establish postal services with John H Reagan of Texas appointed Postmaster General.
Before a general stamp issue could be organised, hostilities began and the Confederacy declared US stamps invalid, resulting in many local provisional issues, including handstamps, crude woodcuts and professionally produced stamps. "Many of the Confederate local issues are extremely rare, while several are beleived to be unique." (Adapted from Mackay [1]).
Scott [2] identifies six 1861 3c postmasters' provisionals designated nAXn from Hillsboro (N.C.), Jackson (Miss.), Madison Court House (Fla.), Nashville (Tenn.), Selma (Ala.) and Tuscumbia (Ala.) and dozens of subsequent provisionals designated nXn and nXUn.