Ellis CSA Stamp & Envelope

There are two envelopes below sent by Capt. Ellis. The first was apparently sent during the war. The second we suspect, was sent sometime after the war's end.

The first envelope and stamp below were originally sent from the Petersburg battle field in late 1864 during the Petersburg Siege. The analysis in the next paragraph was provided by Dr. John L. Kimbrough, CSA Stamps and Postal History (www.csastamps.com).

The envelope is what is known as a "Turned Cover" meaning that it was used twice. The first use has the hand stamp "10" and is addressed to Bellville, Fla, and undated. The cover was then refolded and used a second time with the stamp (CSA #11 Archer & Daly printing) from Bellville, Fla to Oglethorpe, Geo dated OCT 26. Bellville, Fla, was just a little place in Hamilton County and did not rate its own postmark because it was so small which is the reason for the manuscript postal markings. The hand stamped "10" in a circle and in blue was used on soldiers mail sent unpaid from Petersburg, Va, in late 1864 during the Siege of Petersburg and is a 10¢ soldiers due mark meaning the addressee was to pay the 10¢ postage on receipt of the letter. It is a mark specific to the Siege of Petersburg in late 1864. The cover therefore dates from October 1864.

The envelope is addressed to "Mr. A. J. [or Y.] Polhill, Bellview, Fla.". In the lower left, there are initials, likely those of Capt. Ellis, although they are unclear (and up-side-down). The handwriting on the envelope is consistent with other handwriting examples from Capt. Ellis we've seen. The envelope was then reused and forwarded to "Mrs. Lucius Ellis, Oglethorpe, Geo." There are two additional notations on this side of the envelope.

Note that the area of the stamp locations (both stamps, one on each side) and the return address location on the reversed side, were cut out of the envelope - possibly in order to conserve the confederate stamp and hand stamp on the original side. We attempted to sync up the envelope and cutouts as closely as possible when scanning the documents. The envelope was discovered folded, with the cutouts and the Confederate stamp (which was laying free) inside. When placing the Confederate stamp properly over the cutout portion (see scan below), the writing on the stamp and envelope are a perfect match.

Speculating on what may have happened, it appears as though Capt. Ellis wrote a letter to Mr. A. J. Polhill with the 10¢ hand stamp. This may have been Ellis' brother-in-law as Ellis' wife maiden name is Polhill, and we believe one of her brothers was Augustus Jones Polhill who had moved to Florida from Polaski County, GA. Mr. Polhill then appears to have reversed the envelope, placing the 10¢ confederate stamp on it, then sent it to Mrs. Lucius Ellis. Mrs. Ellis is probably Capt Wm L.A. Ellis' wife Martha, as we've found other evidence that WLA Ellis may have gone by the name Lucius Ellis. Mr. Polhill may have wanted to ensure she had the envelope and possibly the letter inside from her husband who was fighting at Petersburg, so they reversed the envelope and forwarded it to her.

The stamp on the left was not adhered to the cutout. It was apparently removed, however the writing over top demonstrates that the stamp is a perfect match for this envelope when the stamp is laid properly over the cutout.

This envelope appears to be a post war envelope. It was sent to Mrs. Lucius Ellis, Mellonville, Fla. This envelope was postmarked Hawkinsville, Ga and may indicate where Ellis resided after the war.

We believe this envelope was sent after the war, however we are unable to decipher the date stamped with the Hawkinsville postmark.