Express companies in the United States started with the mail riders and stagecoach drivers of the 1700's, the first in 1737 when a wagon made a regular trip between Boston and Providence.  Gradually services built up to formal express companies beginning around 1835.  Adams and Company was one of the many that had sprung up by 1850.  Founded by Alvin Adams, the company rapidly became a service that covered most of the major cities in the East and, as time went on, covered the world.

Alvin Adams was born on June 16, 1804 at Andover, VT.  As a young man, he became a partner in the Burke & Company's Express.  In 1840, he bought out his partner for $100, and in 1841 set up a route from Boston to New York by way of Norwich, CT.  He expanded the system of routes to include Philadelphia in 1842, and then to Baltimore, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville KY, St. Louis, New Orleans.  By 1849, having established an office in San Francisco, his routes were coast to coast.

Even though Alvin Adams was a Northerner, most of his routes were in the south.  When the Confederacy was formed in 1861, it was felt that a company owned by a New Englander would not be allowed to operate in the South.  Before the outbreak of war, Adams and several officers of the Company met with Henry Plant, superintendent of the southern division, in Louisville, KY.  Plant had said that all northern owned property in the Confederate states would be confiscated.  Later recollections have him saying that if Adams did not sell his southern routes to Plant, Plant would begin his own company.  Whether he was trying to take advantage of the situation or if succeeding events were planned is not known.  On April 8, another meeting took place in Augusta, GA and soon word went out that a new company had bought all routes, equipment, and contracts in the seceded states.  On May 1, the Southern Express Company opened for business.  The purchase price was $300,000, a rather small sum considering the extent of the Adams' business.  Whether the Southern Express was a dummy company owned secretly by Adams or not will remain a mystery, but the fact is that the two companies did seem to work quite well together despite being on opposite sides of the war.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Adams' company was the foremost express service in Washington, and as such was in a position to garner very lucrative contracts.  The company split into three divisions, one each with the Army of the Potomac, the Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Cumberland.  Vast amounts of supplies and mail, both public and private, were sent via express.  Official documents sometimes were sent via express messenger rather than military couriers.  As the tide of war swept the armies back and forth, so went the express agents.  By rail and riverboat, companies opened and maintained offices anywhere the army went.  In June 1861, the Confederates evacuated Memphis so quickly that the Adams agent moved right into the office of his southern counterpart; the office being left fully furnished and with some undelivered freight.

Perhaps the most important service the company provided was the delivery and receipt of mail to and from the soldiers in the field.  Despite impressions to the contrary, most people were literate to some degree at that time and nothing improved a soldier's morale more than a letter from home.  It was the only way news of friends and family got to troops at the front.  The sadness that showed when a soldier received nothing can only be imagined.  Letters going back were not filled with news of the war, but rather expressions of love and sorrows of separation.  Especially just before a battle, messengers would make the rounds of the camps, collecting what would often be a last letter home.

Packages were shipped at half price to the men, and donated blankets were transported free if addressed to army quartermasters.  American soldiers have always been a collector of war souvenirs and the number of packages going home at least equaled the number coming to camp.  These were usually shipped COD.  Even the United States government used Adams to send its trophies.

Besides mail going out from the camps, a large amount of money was also carried, up to $150,000.  On paydays, many men would send part, or all, of their pay home to support their families.

The common soldier was paid $13 per month, and it was not always regular.  Often an army would be paid 3 or 4 months back pay at a time.  There were no automatic allotments then as there is now.  The only way a man's wife got any money was by the soldier sending some.  When a messenger arrived in camp, a tent was given to him, and plank was laid across two crates or barrels, with a guard or two in attendance he was open for business.

More often than not a train carload of sutler's wares were forwarded by express, to maintain stock.  Sutlers would have preferred to utilize the military railroad, but the amount of government supplies requiring transportation prevented their use.  The vast amount of goods being shipped and the lack of transportation naturally led to delays that were often cause for complaint.  Often shipments were held in warehouses for a prolonged time, sometimes up to five or six months.  The 51st Pennsylvania Infantry went on record as stating that much of the food sent to them was spoiled when received.

On a much sadder note, express companies also transported the bodies of men who died, when they could be identified, and the family could afford to have them returned home for burial.  At first, the bodies were shipped in wooden coffins, but with the great and long delivery times, sealed metal coffins were soon mandated.

While Adams Express enjoyed great success, not all went well.  With the division of the country came a disruption in the postal service between the two sections.  Adams and Southern Express stepped in to try to transport mail back and forth, despite allegations of disloyalty.  Several prominent citizens of the North complained that Adams Express continued to do business between the loyal and seceding states.  The company maintained that if a letter carried a United States postage stamp, it would deliver it.  The problem was that when the Confederacy took over Federal installations, US Post Offices were included.  The stamps on hand were then used by Southerners.  Undoubtedly, these stamps found their way onto letters going north.

Despite these accusations, officials could not prevent the transmitting of mail across the lines.  Sympathizers in the North used the express companies to send information and material south.  Adams even guaranteed delivery of quinine-filled envelopes to any post office in the Confederacy for a $2.00 fee.  That was very profitable until it was ordered halted shortly after its inception.

On the plus side, the companies were also used to send packages to prisoners of war on either side, to ease their suffering.

As the war dragged on, other problems occurred when families back home sent civilian clothing to soldiers to assist them in deserting.  Alcohol was another frequently shipped contraband.  Eventually, restrictions were placed on what articles could be sent to the troops, and how they were to be wrapped and accounted for.

It should be noted that the prohibition on liquor was circumvented in any number of ways.  Bottles were hidden in boxes, and the invoices fraudulent.  A keg might be put in another barrel and surrounded by vegetables.  Rolling a suspected barrel would often foil this method, as the liquid could be heard sloshing around.

Adams Express also provided funds to the United States government on the least one occasion, Due to a mistake on the part of the pay department, too little money was delivered to New Orleans to pay the troops, who had gone without for some months.  General Benjamin Butler, military commander in New Orleans, handled the situation by forcing the New Orleans office to loan him $25,000 on his personal note, among other financial irregularities.

Although exempt from military service, agents were often "drafted" to respond to local emergencies.  During the battle of Shiloh, messengers were used to help haul cannon.  In 1863, superintendent Charles Woodward and another employee served with an artillery battery for several hours to stave off an attack at Helena, AR.  Although non-combatants, messengers faced many of the perils the common soldier faced.  Trains and ships were often fired upon, and the risk of capture was always present, although and express agent would usually be released in short order.

For their reliability and honesty, expressmen were fairly well paid.  The 1861 Wells, Fargo pay scales were as follows: Drivers - $40 to $75/month, stock tenders $40 to $50, carpenters $75, harness makers, blacksmiths, and division agents $100 to $125, and messengers $62.50.

As the Union armies became permanent forces in the south, Adams took over the routes that had been sold to Southern Express and became the only means of communicating with the folks back home.  The US Post Office would not fully reopen their offices until November 1866.  After the surrender those routes were returned to Plant and he continued operations.  The mystery as to the creation of the Southern Express Company deepened.  In 1870 a lawsuit was filed by three shareholders in the Adams Company stating that Southern always was a dummy corporation, and its assets should be returned to the Adams name.  This was adamantly denied by the officers of Adams Company.  It was proven, at least on paper, that the sale was legitimate, and the suit dismissed.  In fact, it was shown that Plant had overpaid Adams for the sale, in what can only be described as "creative bookkeeping", and was refunded the difference.  Southern Express continued its business, and turned out to be very profitable, despite having suffered during the war.

Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, and for some time thereafter, express wagons and offices became targets for the poor returning soldiers of the deep south.  The amount of cash being transported became very attractive.

Adams and Company continued to grow after the war, continuing business until the merging of most of the package delivery companies into the Railway Express Agency, which eventually disappeared.  Adams Express continued as an investment company, currently based in Baltimore.

Mr. Adams passed away on September 1, 1877, in Watertown, MA.  In 35 years, he took a company from nothing, in a new field, to become one of the most important delivery companies in the country, a forerunner of today's United Parcel Service and Federal Express.

Sources:
Official Records of the Navy
Official Records
Old Waybills
Civil War Sutlers and Their Wares
The Expressmen
Baltimore Business Journal