As the tensions between the states started turning a cold war into a hot one, trade broke down between the North and the South completely, and the Confederacy became a de facto nation of its own. Confederate states drew up their own government, constitution, and even their own mail service. The Post Office Department of the Confederate States of America was established on February 21, 1861, by an Act of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, with John Henninger Reagan appointed the first Postmaster General. Reagan announced he would take over control of the Confederate mail service starting June 1 of that year, and in response the North cut off mail service after May 31st.

On this day, June 1, in 1861 the Civil War sides entered another phase of the conflict with mail service between the two suspended indefinitely. Letters addressed to the rebel states from the North were be taken to the Dead Letter Office from where they would be returned to sender.

Among all the letters preserved from the war, one of the most heartbreaking came from the mother of one of the freedmen fighting for the Union. Even in the Union armies the former slaves faced discrimination by other soldiers and medics. The casualty rate among blacks was much higher than of the white regiments, prompting the mother of one to write a letter to Abraham Lincoln asking the president if he could ensure that all soldiers are all fairly treated. “You ought to do this, and do it at once, not let the thing run along,” her letter read. “We poor oppressed ones, appeal to you, and ask fair play.”