Maine Memory Network

William P. Preble of Portland wrote to Shepley in August 1862 asking him to secure stamps for him from Nashville, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Preble, a lawyer, was collecting stamps that various Southern cities issued in advance of the Confederacy selecting a stamp design.

The two had spoken about the stamps when Shepley visited recently in Portland.

Preble also wrote that he recently gone to New York for the body of his nephew, 1st Lt. Robert Allen, who was shot at Mechanicsville and died in New York.