The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-08-13

masters at DOCn enOS Oh the IOulc arc
thereby strictly ordered to have no.
thing to do with anything that saVors
Of dealing with the Federal govern-
nlent.
Evidently. however,. the desire for
a regular mail service was stronger
than their patriotism in the bosoms
of the citizens Of these two towns
and they must have said some plain
things by telegraph to Reagan. for
the very next entry. made the very
| next day. is an order to advertise for
bids to carry this mail. and very
shortly afterward the shifty Giddings
| appears as the contractor under the
| new southern post office department.
AS was natural. things were run in
a rather haphazard manner for the
| first zeal or two. The entries in the
record show continual failure Of their
mail to reach the addresses. and Rea-
san's almost despairing replies are
sad evidence that this state of things
prevailed generally over the new
, Confederacy. 1t seems strange that
men should have complained of this.
a condition which was inevitable. w
ing not alone to the fact that every
one was new. if not to the post office
business. at least to that particular
state of it. Furthermore, there was
a tract OF territory lying along through
the border states. stretching from the
| Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river
n varying in width from so to $50
miles, which was a veritable No Mans
Land for the postal service of either
government. for it, or some portion of
it. was almost daily changing bands.
according to the varying fortunes Of
war.
Thus. after the first battle OF Bull
Run h southern postal service ex-
ko~1oI --:- $1,000
to within sight of the dome of the
Capitol at Washington and reached
up n Kentucky in the West. But
in February, 1862, the fall of Forts
Donelson and Henry drove the south
ern postal service back into middle
Tennessee and the battle of Shiloh
and the fall of Corinth. Miss. a cou-
pie of months later. absolutely swept
the southern postmaster out Of west
Tennessee and northern Alabama.
Confidently. in the east McClel-
lan's advance by the peninsula COM
PEELED the s~Outherners to e%vacuate
Manassas and all Of northern Virginia
for more than a hundred miles south
of Washington. and. Of course. the
post offices and postal service so late
ly established in that section had to
be hastily abandoned and the inhabi-
tants left to what patchwork service
the Washington government would
afford them.
In less tina three months, however.
the Seven Days battles around Rich
mOnd and McClellan's resulting re-
treat, followed within less than two
months by Pope's crushing defeat at
second Bull Run and Lees advance
into Maryland almost to the Pennsyl-
vania line. restored all of Virginia to
the ~Confederacy. and their post office
department was swiftly called upon to
~blish the offices and service
abandoned less than six months be
fore.
Ho wdisgusted. then. must Reagan
and his subOrdinates have felt when,
in less than a months time. the bat
tie. Of Antietam and General Lees re-
treat far up the Shenandoah valley
restored nothern Virginia to the dom
: ination Of the Union arms and com
7 pelled the southern postal authorities
to again abandon the service they had
= established a second time in northern
-. Virginia!
And, to anticipate a year from tina
time. how doubly disguised must they
e have felt when the following spring
the battle OF Charlottesville, fought
on the banks Of the Rappahannock
about s~eventy-five miles south OF
Washington. sent Hooker reeline
4 back and compelled him to follow Lee
: into Maryland. when that general
marched to Gettysburg. thus a SECOND
time abandoning northern Virginia to
= the southerners. who promptly in
. stalled their postal service in northern
: Virginia for now the third time-onl3
e to be compelled to abandon it also 6
e third time when the battle Of Gettys.
burg. like that Of Antietam the prev.
8 lou year., compelled Lee to retrea,
up the Shenandoah valley and leave
northern Virginia to it's fate! It wa:
d a game Of hide-and-seek between tn.
n two postal services. Needless to say
= h man in those unfortunate north.
e ern Virginia parts vas mighty lucky
z if he ever got a letter that was MALE,
e to him.
r Yet the entries covering this subjec
in the old records evince a philoso
Dhic acceptance of the inevitable
There is no sign of peeyish railing a
s fate. but DOSf offices abandoned re