Sale 3039: The "ERIVAN" Collection of United and Confederate States Postal History Part IV

"Pony Express/ Paid 2.00, From Fort Bridger U.T. Paid 7c/ June 20 1861" sender's manuscript notation on a 3c Red on buff Star Die envelope (U27) addressed to "Col Macon W Toppan/ 1st Regt New Hampshire Volunteers/ Washington DC", additional 1859 10c Green Type V (35) affixed over the "Paid 7c" and tied by a green "St Joseph Mo Jun 27" (1861) cds and grid with similar grid cancelling the indicia, choice Very Fine and faultless way cover having been picked up at Fort Bridger (a regular stop on the Pony Express route) by the pony rider on the east-bound trip, unique franking and usage (Frajola-Walske-Kramer Census E-98)rn Noted frontiersman Jim Bridger and his partner, Louis Vasquez, established Fort Bridger in 1843 to service emigrant traffic. The fort served as a Pony Express, Overland Stage, and transcontinental telegraph station in the 1860s and was garrisoned by the U.S. Army at various times between 1857 and 1890. The addressee, Mason Weare Tappan (1817-86) was a New Hampshire state representative, a U.S. congressman from 1855-61, a colonel during the Civil War, and the New Hampshire Attorney General. He was elected as an American Party candidate (34th Congress) and reelected as a Republican (35th-36th Congress). During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the 1st New Hampshire Infantry, a three-month regiment raised in 1861 in response to President Lincoln's call to arms. He mustered out in August 1861. Tappan died in office as the attorney general at the age of 69.rnProvenance: Judge Robert S. Emerson (Private Transaction)rnChristopher Gruys (R.A. Siegel Sale 849, 2002)rnThurston Twigg-Smith (R.A. Siegel Sale 979, 2009) Pony Express