Ken Lawrence has been a philatelic writer and researcher for more than 35 years, an antebellum and Civil War era historian for 50, and a stamp and cover collector for more than 65 years.
Among the challenges faced by the United States Post Office Department during the Classic Era was how to provide mail service to and from overseas possessions. The first of those was Navassa Island in the Caribbean, between Haiti and Jamaica, south of Cuba, claimed in 1857 by an American ship captain under the Guano Islands Act of 1856 and certified by Secretary of State Lewis Cass in 1859.
The earliest recorded postal communication between the United States and Navassa Island has an 1876 date; mail service between the island and the mainland continued until 1898. Although the State and Treasury Departments eventually recognized and certified approximately one hundred island claims under the Guano Islands Act
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