Rare "Lynn & Alton - Agt" Railway cancel

During the later years of the 1865 and 1866, this mail route faced severe interruptions. As Union General William T. Sherman's army marched through South Carolina, his troops targeted the infrastructure. The Spartanburg and Union Railroad was heavily damaged, meaning mail service temporarily reverted to complete horse-and-wagon delivery until the tracks and bridges were rebuilt in the late 1860s.

In the 1870s, the mail route between Lynn, NC and Alston, SC shifted from an exclusively overland stagecoach route to an integrated, all-rail line.

This specific text of the cancel refers to the Lynn & Alston Railway Post Office (RPO) route. 

• Lynn, North Carolina: The line originated just across the state line in Lynn, NC (located in Polk County, near Tryon).

• Alston, South Carolina: The line ran south to the Alston junction in Fairfield County, SC.

• The Route Agent: Because it says AGT (Agent), it dates this card precisely to the late 1870s era when mobile mail sorters were officially termed Route Agents rather than RPO clerks.