Many thousands of volumes have been previously written relative to the political and

socioeconomic events leading up the the Civil War. In addition, a vast number of references

are readily available which deal with this terrible conflict itself; from tactics, to battles,

leaders, etc. Most every aspect of the Civil War has been studied from varying perspectives.

         The brief comments contained herein will be limited  to Confederate Finance and

resulting documents related thereto; such as Confederate Treasury Notes, Bonds, Interim

Deposit Receipts and the like. There are a great many persons who are far more

knowledgeable in this field than I. I would be remiss if I did not here mention the name of the

late Dr. Douglas Ball, whose knowledge of such matters far exceeded that of any individual I

have ever known.

         In 1861, Edward R. Pollard wrote-"The whole cotton crop of America, in 1860, was

4,675,770 bales, and of this, 3,697,727 bales were exported." The remainder was used here

in the States; most in the industrialized States of the Northeast.

Thousands of jobs depended upon this commodity, which was considered to be essential

to the way of life both in the North and abroad by Southern leaders. Thus, cotton was "King"

and the anticipated control and influence the South maintained over the product

worldwide was considered to be the primary governing factor in financing the entire Southern

war effort. In a misdirected effort to drive the price of cotton up;

President Davis, at the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Christopher G. Memminger,

imposed an embargo upon the export of cotton abroad. Unfortunately, for the exporters of

Southern cotton and the financing of the Southern cause, the Union blockade of Southern

ports was effectively in place by the time the embargo was lifted. Large, slow moving cargo

ships were incapable of penetrating the blockade and the sleek, much faster "blockade

running" vessels were far too small to carry cargo of any significance. Consequently, the

South had no means of acquiring hard specie (gold or silver) in order to obtain much needed

arms,supplies, etc. abroad. As the Southern States were primarily agrarian States, with

little on no industrial capacity, the scene was set for the coming of the many and varied

forms of Confederate fiscal paper encountered today. The South was doomed to finance

the Civil War with Paper; the faith of it's citizens and the forlorn hope of European

intervention.

          The first Confederate Treasury notes were contracted for with the American Bank

Note Company of New York when the CSA Capitol was at Montgomery, Alabama. This

arrangement quickly fell apart, in part due to the inability of the American Bank Note

Company to produce enough notes and primarily due to the fact that the U.S. Government

considered this an act of treason. From this point, (early 1861) matters went downhill and

the Secretary of the Treasury found himself in the position of attempting to acquire notes

and other fiscal documents from untried and inexperienced printers.

        Needless to say, and without writing a treatise herein, the Southern attempt to

finance the War based solely upon Treasury notes and bonds was doomed from the start.

       However, as a result of horrific inflation and other matters; we as collectors of these

numismatic treasures; are today left with an interesting an intriguing array of material to

acquire. While some material may be much more rare than other; all is fascinating.

We hope that you will find something of interest in these pages and it is our pleasure to

help in any manner possible.

       Please feel free to ask questions, or inquire about any matter which may be of interest

to you.