The Rheatown Stamp

DEAR SIR:

Yours of the 29th inst is at hand, As I happen to have the stamp alluded to, I inclose one for your benefit. It was used by me expressly for the Rheatown office, from about August, 1861, to midsummer 1862, until Confederate stamps were distributed for general use.

These stamps were used merely as a convenience during the absence of Government stamps, and of course were only received at the Rheatown office in payment of postage. All letters bearing it were billed "paid in money, 5 cents." The inconvenience of country people sending money by servants and children to pay postage, and the remarkable scarcity of small change at that time, were the principal objects for procuring this stamp                                Yours truly,

Rheatown, Tenn                                                          D. PENCE 

(Source: Confederate Veteran: Published Monthly in the Interest of Confederate Veterans and Kindred Topics, Volume 2, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1894, p. 78)