Mail delivery has also been of interest to me. Research of the Trans-Mississippi has revealed many letters written to and from veterans and their families east of the Mississippi. In addition, I have over 20 letters written by my family.

A letter often reveals the writer is sending the letter by some one from the unit who is going to or coming back from home. When a stamp could be procured, they were sent via the public mail service. A couple of letters apologize to the wife for not being able to buy a stamp. I suppose the letter was sent collect and she had to pay for postage when it arrived.

Letters were not always delivered in chronological order, therefore the writer will often state the date of the letter received to which they are replying. This lets the receiver know exactly which of their previously written letters is being responded to. This implies some letters were probably lost or delayed. If date received is compared to the date on the letter head or the date which the return letter is being written, it is not unusual for transit of a letter half way across the state to have taken only 5 or 6 days. This seems like fairly efficient mail service, considering everything going on.

On Fold3, I found a request for deferment from military service due to the soldier being the only mail carrier between two county seats in East Texas. I do not remember if it was granted or denied.

I have a letter written by a soldier in Hood's Tx Brigade on March 1865 from the trenches at Petersburg, Va to a relative in Central Texas. I have no idea how long it took to travel across a devastated south and the Mississippi controlled by Federal gunboats during the last weeks of the war. The fact that it even arrived is an extraordinary feat never-the-less.

Mail was very important to both soldiers in the service and family members back home. It could be a two-edged sword as good news could cheer a soldier up or relieve a family's worries that their soldier was still safe. Letters could also make the soldiers homesick. Letters could be worrisome to the soldier due to the hard times wives and children were having to endure with no man at home. Soldiers worried about the crops which were not getting planted and the health and welfare of their family. Family members worried about the safety and health of their loved ones in service.

My apologies for the long post, but a book could be written on the subject.