Red Baltimore Jan 8 cds on folded letter to Fredricktown, datelined Jan 8 1802. Red "10" manuscript.

BALTE.MD.("E"&"D"high)(1 8) ASCC Baltimore #18

Black "NEWBt Ms JAN 8" cds on 1800 folded letter to Portsmouth.

New Jersey TREN. N.J OCT/17 1801 CDS with matching "PAID" handstamp on large folded letter with manuscript "34" rate marking, to New Haven CT.

Red "FRANKt, KY Mar 24" cds on 1817 folded cover Providence, RI, with "Ship 10" and "25" manuscripts.

Black Petersburg, VA cds on folded cover to Norfolk. Manuscript "12 1/2"

Pittsburgh, PA DEC 1 cds on 1820 folded letter to Philadelphia. Manuscript "18 3/4' rate.

Black "NEWPT RI MAY 22" cds, Newport folded letter to Providence, RI with manuscript "Sh 10"

Black "NEWPT RI JUN 19" cds on 1807 folded letter to Alexandria with manuscript "20"

Red Salem, MS cds, datelined Boston Oct 12 1808, on folded letter to Hollowell, Maine. Manuscript "17" rate marking.

Clear Strike of "Charln. S.Ca. Mar 26" cds with matching "Ship" rating handstamp and manuscript "53" on folded letter to St. Simons, Georgia. Letter datelined Dec 7, 1807 from Liverpool endorsed "pr Romp/ v Charleston", Very Fine.

Rated as Triple Rate by the Act of March 2, 1799 . ( 17c letter rate up to 300 miles plus 2c ship fee).

Before the introduction of navigable post road letters carried by ship on coastal routes in 1827, ship letters were charged the equivalent overland mileage rate and the additional 2c ship fee.

St. Simons Island is off the Georgia coast near Brunswick. The Charleston cds is an example of the second shipment of circular datestamps supplied by the Post Office Department.

Brown Providence, RI JAN 11 cds on folded letter to New York with manuscript "17" rate.

Black "SAVAN GA MAY 2" cds on 1807 folded letter to New York with manuscript "25"

Black "NEWARK, NJ JUN 17" cds on folded cover to New Work. Datelined 16 June 1802 with manuscript "24"

Providence, RI FEB 12 cds on folded letter to Alexandria, Virginia with manuscript "20" rerated to "40"

Black "SAVAN GA DEC 29" cds on folded cover to Louisville with manuscript "12 1/2", no contents or docketing.

Black "NEWBt Ms APR 25" cds on 1806 folded letter to Boston with manuscript "Sh 12", from "Aliante".

Rated 10 cents (40-80 miles + 2 cent ship fee)

Black Trenton SEP 5 cds on folded letter to Bath, MA with red "FREE" manuscript from the Treasury Department. The letter is franked by Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury Department, datelined "Treasury Department/Register's Office (Trenton)/ Septr. 5, 1799."

During the time Philadelphia was the United States Capital, some of the executive departments would flee to other sites during that city's oppressive summer heat and contagious fevers. As shown in this letter's dateline and the townmark, the Treasury Department was at Trenton, New Jersey in 1799 at summer's end.

Addressed to Bath, Massachusetts, before the District of Maine became a state in 1820.

Black "NEWPT RI SEP 5" cds on folded letter to Bath, MA with manuscript "Sh 19." Manuscript "Brig Rebecca Capt. Abbot Via Boston"

Letter datelined "London June 30th 1812" from Samuel Harding while on business in GB with his wife Lucy at their home in Bath Mass (now Maine). He says that he "arrived in Chatham...on the 15th May." He had written "6 or 7 letters since which however have been stopped by the Repeal of the Orders in Council as the vessels by whom I wrote returned to take cargo for the U.States."

The "Orders in Council" were three executive orders issued from
1807 to 1809 prohibiting trade with France. In an attempt at reconciliation with the US, GB repealed them on June 23, 1812, but it was too late. War had already been declared.

It appears that this letter was on the Brig Rebecca when it was intercepted by the privateer Commodore Barney of the "swift clipper-built schooner Rossie" on August 10 while the Rebecca was on its way to Boston.

Barney reportedly spent 45 days at sea and intercepted 14 ships, including the Rebecca. He destroyed 9 of the ships, but not the Rebecca. The Rebecca was seized for a breach of the non-importation law.

Ships captured by privateers were typically brought to a port by a prize crew from the privateer ship. However, Barney might have kept the mail and taken it to the Newport post office, perhaps pocketing the ship fee himself.

Barney was reported to have arrived in Newport on August 30. He got new supplies and left Newport on September 7. The cds is dated September 5, which puts it in the time period when Barney was at Newport.

The ship must have been US registered because it is typically described as "the Brig Rebecca, of Saco.", presumably the reason why he did not burn or sink the Rebecca.

Black "SAVAN GA JAN 19" cds on folded cover to Charleston
Manuscript "12 1/2", no contents or docketing. Very clear and sharp strike of this First Federal Handstamp indicates a very early strike of this handstamp.

Black "NORFOLK VA JAN 7" cds, second Federal handstamp, on 1810 folded cover to Boston. Manuscript "25"

Pittsburgh, PA JUL 5 cds with unusual boxed, fancy "FREE" handstamp on folded letter to Philadelphia.

The letter includes a complaint of an employee to the Commissary General of Purchases, a Civilian Office Established in 1812 for Army Food Purchases

Black "NORFOLK VA NOV 25" cds on 1804 folded letter from Breman, Germany to Baltimore. The letter is datelined 1 July 1804. Manuscript Ship "30" corrected to "60"

Black ""NEWBt Ms MAY 2"" cds on 1810 folded letter to Salem with manuscript ""paid"" amd straightline "PAID"

Black "NEWBt Ms OCT 15" cds on 1804 folded letter to Salem with manuscript "8"

Black Nov 5 Boston, Ms cds with red manuscript "40" on 1803 folded letter to Philadelphia.

France and England were at war from 1793-1815. It was unclear to the French as to where official American sympathies would finally rest; as they suspected that our Post was opening certain important mails, they sometimes would write a secret message in lemon juice, which was invisible to the eye. When these letters were received, a small chunk would be removed and soaked to bring out a trace of a message; if none appeared, so be it. But if there was a message, the entire letter would be soaked.

This 1803 letter, addressed to Philadelphia, is an example of this practice.