Graybacks and Gold: Confederate Monetary Policy

How did the South finance the war against the North? What was the monetary relationship between the Confederate states and the central government, the Confederate States of America? How did the C. S. A. design and print or min…

How did the South finance the war against the North? What was the monetary relationship between the Confederate states and the central government, the Confederate States of America? How did the C. S. A. design and print or mint its bills and coins? Were stamps used for purposes other than postage? What happened to the money in the Confederate treasury as the war ended?

In this study Dr. Morgan answers these questions and more. He details and explains the successes and failures of the monetary policies implemented by the Confederate government and the states and Indian nations that composed the South. He devotes two chapters to the monetary practices of the Indian nations. Only the Cherokee and Choctaw of the Five Civilized Tribes issued money during the war. Further, Morgan chronicles the roles of Confederate treasury officials such as Christopher G. Memminger, and his successor, George A. Trenholm, and other important personalities at the national and state levels. The volume is replete with illustrations and pictures of Confederate currency, bonds, coins, stamps and persons.

Graybacks and Gold provides that overview of Confederate monetary policy which helps explain in part why the South lost the war.