Editing Confederate States of America (section)

===Post office===
{{Further|Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States}}

<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2">
John Henninger Reagan - Brady-Handy.jpg|[[John H. Reagan]]<br />Postmaster General
J Davis 1861-5c.jpg|[[Jefferson Davis]], 5 cent<br />[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Confederate postage|The first stamp]], 1861
Csa jackson 1862-2c.jpg|[[Andrew Jackson]]<br />2 cent, 1862
George-washington-CSA-stamp.jpg|[[George Washington]]<br />20 cent, 1863
</gallery>

The Confederacy established the Confederate Post Office for mail delivery. One of the first undertakings in establishing the office was the appointment of [[John H. Reagan]] as Postmaster General, by [[Jefferson Davis]] in 1861. Writing in 1906, historian Walter Flavius McCaleb praised Reagan's "energy and intelligence... in a degree scarcely matched by any of his associates".<ref>Walter Flavius McCaleb, "The Organization of the Post-Office Department of the Confederacy." ''American Historical Review'' 12#1 (1906), pp. 66–74 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1832885 online]</ref>

When the war began, the US Post Office briefly delivered mail from the secessionist states. Mail that was postmarked after the date of a state's admission into the Confederacy through May 31, 1861, and bearing US postage was still delivered.<ref name="U.S. Postal used in the Confederacy">{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2040514 |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |title=U.S. Postal Issue Used in the Confederacy (1893) |access-date=January 29, 2011 |archive-date=March 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329131022/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2040514 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After this time, private express companies still managed to carry some of the mail across enemy lines. Later, mail that crossed lines had to be sent by [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Covers|'Flag of Truce']] and was allowed to pass at only two specific points. Mail sent from the Confederacy to the U.S. was received, opened and inspected at [[Fortress Monroe]] on the Virginia coast before being passed on into the U.S. mail stream. Mail sent from the North to the South passed at [[City Point, Virginia|City Point]], also in Virginia, where it was also inspected before being sent on.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1832885|title = The Organization of the Post-Office Department of the Confederacy|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 12|issue = 1|pages = 66–74|last1 = McCaleb|first1 = Walter Flavius|year = 1906|doi = 10.2307/1832885}}</ref><ref>
* {{cite journal|jstor=30234666|title=Administrative Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department, I|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=19|issue=2|pages=111–141|last1=Garrison|first1=L. R.|year=1915}}
* {{cite journal|jstor=30237275|title=Administrative Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department, II|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_southwestern-historical-quarterly_1916-01_19_3/page/232|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=19|issue=3|pages=232–250|last1=Garrison|first1=L. R.|year=1916}}</ref>

With the chaos of the war, a working postal system was more important than ever for the Confederacy. The Civil War had divided family members and friends and consequently letter writing increased dramatically across the entire divided nation, especially to and from the men who were away serving in an army. Mail delivery was also important for the Confederacy for a myriad of business and military reasons. Because of the Union blockade, basic supplies were always in demand and so getting mailed correspondence out of the country to suppliers was imperative to the successful operation of the Confederacy. Volumes of material have been written about the [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Blockade mail|Blockade runners]] who evaded Union ships on blockade patrol, usually at night, and who moved cargo and mail in and out of the Confederate States throughout the course of the war. Of particular interest to students and historians of the American Civil War is ''[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Prisoner of war mail|Prisoner of War mail]]'' and ''[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Blockade mail|Blockade mail]]'' as these items were often involved with a variety of military and other war time activities. The postal history of the Confederacy along with [[:File:Pow cover 19May1865.jpg|surviving Confederate mail]] has helped historians document the various people, places and events that were involved in the American Civil War as it unfolded.<ref name="Confederate States Post Office">{{cite web |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2027888 |title=Confederate States Post Office |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720043556/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2027888 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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