1813 free frank John Mason Indian trade Georgetown DC stampless War of 1812

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1813 free frank John Mason Indian trade Georgetown DC stampless War of 1812:
$64.77

1813 free frank and letter signed by John Mason as Superintendent of the Indian Trade in the War Department (he used SIT with his frank). Short note about forwarding a letter. The Federal Government nationanized the Indian Trade to keep fur traders from Canada away from the Indians in US terriorty. All the furs were collected from various governemnt trading posts and sent to a warehouse Georgetown, D.C. for sale. The building still stands on M Street. When Missouri became a state in 1820, its new Senator Thomas Hart Benton went after the Indian Trade Office and the office was disbanded. From then the St. Louis based private fur companies began and the days of the fur trading mountain men began. Mason provided trade goods for the trading posts and some treaty goods. The letter is to Clothworthy Birnie via Birnie’s uncle Upton Scott, also Francis Scott Key’s great uncle. Georgetown, Col. CDS