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| Scott Number | 1 |
|---|---|
| Date | July 14, 1854 |
| From City | Eagletown |
| From State | Indian Terr |
| To City | Washington |
| To State | DC |
| Addressee | Col. P. P. Pitchlynn |
| Cert Author | |
| Cert # | |
| Fake | |
| Quantity 1 | 1 |
| Quantity 2 | 0 |
| Bisect | |
| Others |
Notes
1847, 5¢ red brown (Scott No. 1). Ample margins to clear except touched at upper left, pen canceled, matching "Eagletown Ark./ July 14 1854" manuscript. postmark on folded cover from Choctaw, Indian Territory to Col Peter P. Pitchlynn in Washington, Very Fine, a most important cover from both a philatelic and a historical perspective. Illustrated in Alexander, p.116. Estimate $15,000-20,000
THE ONLY RECORDED 1847 COVER FROM EAGLETOWN AND ONE OF TWO 5¢ 1847 COVERS RECORDED FROM INDIAN TERRITORY. .
Provenance: Seven Oaks.
Col. Pitchlynn, whose Indian name was Hachootucknee (Snapping Turtle), was born in Mississippi in 1806; his mother was a Choctaw and his father a white interpreter commissioned by General Washington. From 1828 until his death in 1881 Col. Pitchlynn was a respected and influential figure in Native American affairs who lobbied ceaselessly for his native homeland and labored to prevent alcohol from reaching the Indian population. This cover was addressed to Pitchlynn while he was in Washington, as a chief and delegate of the Choctaw Nation, to negotiate and sign the Treaty of Washington D.C. with the Choctaw and Chickasaw in June of 1855. George Catlin's portrait of Pitchlynn,
illustrated in Alexander, p. 114, was recently part of the Smithsonian exhibit, George Catlin and His Indian Gallery.
The other 5¢ cover from Indian Territory is addressed to Pitchlynn at Eagletown and postmarked Doaksville. Both covers represent the only recorded post-demonetized usages from Indian Territory.
Hammer Price $20,000.
Matthew Bennett International Sale 266 Lot 1163
Alexander listed as 7/14/54 from Eagletown, Indian Territory
Images from Arago, Smithsonian National Postal Museum website
Collectors Club Philatelist, Vol 89 No. 3, May-June 2010, pp 174-175
George Hudson related to Pitchlynn the frustrations at home over territorial boundary disputes with other removed tribes, as well as with white settlers. Educated at a mission school, Hudson had become a lawyer and noted orator. In October 1860, he would be elected the first Principal Chief of the Choctaw nation and serve until October 1862.2
Figure 3 shows the only existing George Hudson cover from Eagletown, prepaid with an 1847 postage stamp. Although Eagletown was in the Choctaw Nation west of the Arkansas border, it was attached to Arkansas in the Post Office Department records for administrative purposes, and hence the designation Ark in the townmark.
The cover entered the mails on July 14, 1854, long after the 1847 stamps had been demonetized. Although a Post Office Department order had declared these stamps unusable for postage after June 30, 1851, only three examples are known where it is indicated that a local office refused to recognize them.
This usage represents a 2¢ overpayment of the 1851 rate, since the Act of March 3, 1851, provided that single-weight letters traveling a distance of up to 3,000 miles would incur prepaid postage of only 3¢. And, since Eagletown never received any 1847 stamps, the 5¢ stamp was obviously brought in from another location, probably Doakesville (or Doaksville).
In 2009, Joe Crosby discovered the original letter sent with this cover in the archives of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK.3 It reads:
Eagle Town July 14th 1854.
Dear Co. P. P. Pitchlynn.
Your letter of the 16th of June, come to home week ago, as soon [as} I got through reading, Mr. Taylor sent for me, and I went over to his house, we ride in the cotton field all over it, I came home in high fever, still on me until last Wednesday evening broke off. I am very weak to write, but I can't help it, today is mail day. Your cotton is the best I have seen this year, biggest part of it is about as high as my shoulder, and half grown boles on it plenty of it. Near the house is waist high. And corn is good looking crop if good rains come in two or three days will make a corn, we had no rain here in a month now. Corn is suffering. Elapota is killed at the line last week, not known who did it. Only suspicion three young men. I was real glad to see your letter, I do hope you will gain something yet of some day for the nation. I shall fire it with the heirs of Washashi hopaii and I'll get them to draw power of attorney for you to draw the money for the heirs. Well, are the[re] any chance for Bay Indians, can be allowed or not, anything you can let me know. There is one case of old Iklennabe son, Anontabe, he stayed five years, before the time is out his family was move to this country and his widow wish you are nominate for Chiefs in our District. G.W. Haskin and Colman Cole [are in] hot opposition that ever heard before of such.
My family are all well, your friend
G. Hudson
Peter Pitchlynn, educated at the University of Nashville, was later given the rank of colonel in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. He devoted the last part of his life to gaining respect for original Choctaw treaty rights by the United States. Pitchlynn eventually became Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation. The Peter Pitchlynn prolific correspondence is a major source of Indian Territory postal history
Robert G Kaufmann sale 66 (Hart) lot 181 realized 2200
Robert G. Kaufmann sale 72 lot 209 realized 1200
THE ONLY RECORDED 1847 COVER FROM EAGLETOWN AND ONE OF TWO 5¢ 1847 COVERS RECORDED FROM INDIAN TERRITORY. .
Provenance: Seven Oaks.
Col. Pitchlynn, whose Indian name was Hachootucknee (Snapping Turtle), was born in Mississippi in 1806; his mother was a Choctaw and his father a white interpreter commissioned by General Washington. From 1828 until his death in 1881 Col. Pitchlynn was a respected and influential figure in Native American affairs who lobbied ceaselessly for his native homeland and labored to prevent alcohol from reaching the Indian population. This cover was addressed to Pitchlynn while he was in Washington, as a chief and delegate of the Choctaw Nation, to negotiate and sign the Treaty of Washington D.C. with the Choctaw and Chickasaw in June of 1855. George Catlin's portrait of Pitchlynn,
illustrated in Alexander, p. 114, was recently part of the Smithsonian exhibit, George Catlin and His Indian Gallery.
The other 5¢ cover from Indian Territory is addressed to Pitchlynn at Eagletown and postmarked Doaksville. Both covers represent the only recorded post-demonetized usages from Indian Territory.
Hammer Price $20,000.
Matthew Bennett International Sale 266 Lot 1163
Alexander listed as 7/14/54 from Eagletown, Indian Territory
Images from Arago, Smithsonian National Postal Museum website
Collectors Club Philatelist, Vol 89 No. 3, May-June 2010, pp 174-175
George Hudson related to Pitchlynn the frustrations at home over territorial boundary disputes with other removed tribes, as well as with white settlers. Educated at a mission school, Hudson had become a lawyer and noted orator. In October 1860, he would be elected the first Principal Chief of the Choctaw nation and serve until October 1862.2
Figure 3 shows the only existing George Hudson cover from Eagletown, prepaid with an 1847 postage stamp. Although Eagletown was in the Choctaw Nation west of the Arkansas border, it was attached to Arkansas in the Post Office Department records for administrative purposes, and hence the designation Ark in the townmark.
The cover entered the mails on July 14, 1854, long after the 1847 stamps had been demonetized. Although a Post Office Department order had declared these stamps unusable for postage after June 30, 1851, only three examples are known where it is indicated that a local office refused to recognize them.
This usage represents a 2¢ overpayment of the 1851 rate, since the Act of March 3, 1851, provided that single-weight letters traveling a distance of up to 3,000 miles would incur prepaid postage of only 3¢. And, since Eagletown never received any 1847 stamps, the 5¢ stamp was obviously brought in from another location, probably Doakesville (or Doaksville).
In 2009, Joe Crosby discovered the original letter sent with this cover in the archives of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK.3 It reads:
Eagle Town July 14th 1854.
Dear Co. P. P. Pitchlynn.
Your letter of the 16th of June, come to home week ago, as soon [as} I got through reading, Mr. Taylor sent for me, and I went over to his house, we ride in the cotton field all over it, I came home in high fever, still on me until last Wednesday evening broke off. I am very weak to write, but I can't help it, today is mail day. Your cotton is the best I have seen this year, biggest part of it is about as high as my shoulder, and half grown boles on it plenty of it. Near the house is waist high. And corn is good looking crop if good rains come in two or three days will make a corn, we had no rain here in a month now. Corn is suffering. Elapota is killed at the line last week, not known who did it. Only suspicion three young men. I was real glad to see your letter, I do hope you will gain something yet of some day for the nation. I shall fire it with the heirs of Washashi hopaii and I'll get them to draw power of attorney for you to draw the money for the heirs. Well, are the[re] any chance for Bay Indians, can be allowed or not, anything you can let me know. There is one case of old Iklennabe son, Anontabe, he stayed five years, before the time is out his family was move to this country and his widow wish you are nominate for Chiefs in our District. G.W. Haskin and Colman Cole [are in] hot opposition that ever heard before of such.
My family are all well, your friend
G. Hudson
Peter Pitchlynn, educated at the University of Nashville, was later given the rank of colonel in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. He devoted the last part of his life to gaining respect for original Choctaw treaty rights by the United States. Pitchlynn eventually became Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation. The Peter Pitchlynn prolific correspondence is a major source of Indian Territory postal history
Robert G Kaufmann sale 66 (Hart) lot 181 realized 2200
Robert G. Kaufmann sale 72 lot 209 realized 1200
