Has anyone read any good book(s) about the use of money in the Confederacy?

[shirohniichan]

We all know who won the Civil War and why CSA notes became worthless. There was a time, however, when the outcome wasn't so sure and Union paper was worth less than 30 cents in gold.

 

Are there any good books about how much US and foreign coin circulated in the CSA? Where there brokers like in the US who sold specie for paper? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Conder101]

Yes there were brokers that traded in the different currencies, gold, silver , and paper.

[DWLange]

The definitive book on Confederate currency and its handling is Raphael Thian's Register of the Confederate Debt. It makes for very dry reading, however, more being an accounting than a narrative. The original printing is one of the greatest rarities in American numismatic literature, but the book was reprinted in 1972. Even that reprint is quite scarce, but with the book being out of copyright, I imagine a print-on-demand knockoff may be available on the internet.

[RWB]

Try here:

Subway Stamp Co.

E-Mail: custserv@subwaystamp.com

• Phone: 1-800-221-9960 814-946-1000 • Fax 1-888-221-9960 814-946-9997 •

 

Register of the Confederate Debt, R. Thian (Hard) $34.95

(probably the Quarterman Publications 1994 reprint)

 

[shirohniichan]

Does the book address the use of US coin in the CSA, or is it exclusively about the use of CSA paper?

[RWB]

Not sure.....have not read it...was just providing a seller of the book. Dave Lange would know.

[DaveG]

shiroh,

 

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with an individual book that discusses the use of specie in the South during the Civil War.

 

While I haven't done much research into this area, I'd suggest that while specie didn't actually circulate in "day-to-day" transactions, it did play a role in: a) Confederate government purchases (e.g., of weapons from overseas suppliers); b) purchases of luxury goods from blockade runners; and, c) as a store of value by individuals.

 

(As an aside, I recall from Breen that the Confederate Treasury, as it was disbursed just before it could be seized by Federal troops in 1865, consisted of Mexican silver pesos and gold British sovereigns. - presumably this can be verified from other sources.)

 

If you haven't already, you might want to review Hammond's two books on banking history to see if he discusses what happened to the reserves of the southern banks (presumably they would have been turned over to (or lent to) the new government). If Hammond doesn't discuss it (or doesn't discuss it in enough detail), there are the various histories of individual banks or banks in individual states (as well as Schweikart's Banking in the American South, which might mention it).

 

I don't know if there are any books about the blockade runners, but there certainly should be.

 

Finally, there are a number of diaries and other books that focus on the lives of individuals during the war that might mention the use of specie. The one that I'm familiar with is Last Train from Atlanta by A. Hoehling, which contains several references to hoarded specie.

 

Last Train from Atlanta was the subject of a column in Coin World about 10 years ago, in which the author extracted the numismatic references and commented on them. (I remember it well, because it was what sparked my interest in numismatic research and writing.)

[RWB]

The Confederate Treasury records are at NARA in College Park, MD.

[shirohniichan]

I think I'll see if I can get a copy of Last Train to Atlanta. I'm interested in reading how the use of CSA paper and Union coin (and perhaps Spanish colonial coin) changed as the Confederacy's fortunes did. The North switched almost entirely to paper. At first silver and gold disappeared in early 1862, and then even base metal coins disappeared from circulation. Tokens and stamps replaced coins as fractional money until postal and fractional currency could be issued.

 

I wonder what it would have been like in the South to see how merchants at any cash and carry store would have performed their trades as the CSA's future went from bright to dark.

[DaveG]

shiroh,

 

Unless you're particularly interested in the Siege of Atlanta from the civilians' point-of-view, I'd recommend getting the book from the library. As I recall, it's a fairly lengthy book and its numismatic content is pretty modest.

 

If you'd like, I found my copy of Gerald Tebben's column from the 12/16/2002 Coin World and can send you a copy.

 

In general, I'd say that specie disappeared even earlier in the South than it did in the North.

 

To begin with, there wasn't that much specie in the South and most of it would have been in bank reserves. The Confederate government would have gone after that specie promptly, in order to pay for much needed military supplies from European suppliers.

 

Also, there wouldn't have been that much cash-and-carry activity: most householders would have kept accounts with their regular merchants. Cash transactions probably would have been at the small change level - newspapers, trolly rides, a glass of beer, that sort of thing.

 

By the way, there probably would have been very little Spanish colonial coin in circulation by the beginning of the Civil War, due to the flood of reduced size Liberty Seated silver coins that began in 1853.

[shirohniichan]

I imagine the CSA attracted the dregs of coinage due to need, as did California during the Gold Rush. Demand for fractional silver during the Gold Rush meant that heavily abraded Spanish colonial silver, French francs, and other foreign coins that assayed having less than 20 cents in silver content passed as quarters. Much of US silver flowed north of the border into British North America, also, so whatever had the least amount of silver probably ended up in the South and passing for far higher than its bullion value.

 

I'd like to read about it in newspaper and journal accounts to see how this all played out in daily life, though.

[DaveG]

shiroh,

 

I doubt that the South was able to attract any coinage during the War.

 

The only thing the South could export for specie was cotton; otherwise, the South was an importer, especially of luxury goods (and war material), for which it would have had to pay specie. As a result, the CSA government was hungry for specie and expended significant effort to get it from its citizens.

 

The citizens, of course, therefore hoarded specie and would have only spent it at great need.

 

I'm not familiar with any other journal or newspaper accounts of Southerners using specie, but you may find some purlished diaries on Google.books. I don't know if any of the Southern newspapers have digitized their archives, unfortunately.