Red "MAIL ROUTE" marking on folded letter to New York with manuscript "12" and "Ship Louisiana." This letter is endorsed as leaving New Orleans 22 March 1828 and received in New York on April 22.

New Orleans Mail Route letters addressed to northern ports, such as this one, were charged postage from New Orleans to the mouth of the Mississippi, a distance of 100 miles which carried a single weight rate of 12 1/2 cents under the 1825 schedule of rates.

According to Bond, only about 30% of New York MAIL ROUTE covers are known to have the 12 1/2 c rate.