This United States Postage currency note was worth 25 cents and could be turned in for postage stamps at a postal office. Sending letters during the Civil War was extremely important, as it was the only form of communication available to soldiers and their families. Delivery of letters could take a long time, and families waited desperately for word from their loved ones. Soldiers were away from their families for months and sometimes years at a time, and during these long separations, some families wrote hundreds of letters.