How One Man — and a War — Changed Mail Delivery Forever
The Story of Colonel Absalom H. Markland
There are things in life we use every day without a second thought — mail delivery is one of them. We drop a letter in a mailbox or hear the flap of the mailbox lid and think nothing of it. But how did home mail delivery, something so routine now, come to be?
As a boy growing up on the streets of New York City in the 1940s, I can still remember mail being delivered twice a day to homes and apartments. Back then, the U.S. mail trucks, and curbside mailboxes were painted a dark brown — a result of using leftover Army surplus paint from World War I. Yet I never once paused to wonder how this vital system was established in the first place.
The origins of home mail delivery stretch back to the ingenuity and determination of a man you’ve probably never heard of: Colonel Absalom H. Markland — the Military Postmaster General during the American Civil War. (The title “Colonel” was honorary; he was a civilian official, but his influence on the military mail system was profound.)
When the Civil War erupted, communication between soldiers and loved ones became a lifeline. Before the war, the mail system was primarily used for business correspondence and the delivery of newspapers. Personal letters were relatively rare. But with hundreds of thousands of young men leaving home to join the Union Army, the American people turned to letter-writing in unprecedented numbers.
There was just one problem: the postal system wasn’t ready for it.
Soldiers in the field were often on the move, their locations shifting with every battle and campaign. Letters sent from home might arrive at a camp that had already packed up and marched away. Morale suffered when mail failed to catch up with the soldiers. Recognizing this issue, General Ulysses S. Grant called on Absalom Markland to overhaul the system.
Markland attacked the problem with remarkable energy and efficiency. He created a mobile, military-based mail distribution system — a vast logistical network that kept the mail flowing to wherever the armies marched. It wasn’t easy. Railroads, rivers, mule trains, and foot messengers had to be coordinated to ensure that no soldier was left disconnected from home.
As the letters moved out to the battlefield, another unexpected development was happening back home: post offices were suddenly flooded with mail arriving from soldiers. At the time, the standard practice was for individuals to visit their local post office to pick up mail. As the war dragged on, much of the mail arriving bore somber news — letters announcing wounds, missing persons, or deaths. Post offices quickly became emotional flashpoints, scenes of grief and chaos.
In Cleveland, Ohio, the local postmaster decided something had to change. He arranged for mail to be delivered directly to the homes of the recipients — a novel idea at the time. His reasoning was practical and compassionate: if bad news had to be delivered, it was better for it to happen privately, at home, rather than amid the public anguish inside a crowded post office.
The idea worked so well that it drew the attention of the National Postmaster General in Washington, D.C. Soon, home delivery spread to forty-nine major cities across the United States.
Home delivery wasn’t just a convenience; it reshaped American communities. Letter carriers needed safe, efficient routes to deliver the mail. As a result, sidewalks were constructed where none existed before. Streets needed to be named and marked with signs. Houses had to be numbered — the infrastructure we now consider essential grew directly out of the demands of home mail delivery.
All of it — the system, the side effects, the modernization of neighborhoods — traces back to one talented man doing his job exceptionally well in a time of national crisis. Colonel Absalom Markland didn’t just make sure soldiers got their letters. He fundamentally changed how America communicates.
And just when you think his story couldn’t get any better, here’s a remarkable side note: when General William Tecumseh Sherman completed his famous “March to the Sea,” capturing Savannah, Georgia, at the end of 1864, the first Union ship to enter Savannah Harbor wasn’t carrying weapons or reinforcements — it carried twenty tons of mail for Sherman’s troops, delivered with precision thanks to Colonel Markland’s system.
Colonel Markland made it look easy, but his achievement was anything but.
If you want to dive deeper into this fascinating history, I highly recommend reading “Delivered Under Fire” by Candice Shy Hooper — a gripping story of how wartime necessity and one man’s dedication revolutionized the way America stays connected.
Bob von Bargen
Armed Forces Heritage Museum
President Emeritus
