An old-style currency note from the City of New Orleans, valued at one dollar. It features images of two ships, elaborate designs, and portraits of women. The note is dated January 1, 1863, with decorative borders and numerals 49 120.

The Battleground of Banking

Money and Why There Was Never Enough

Banking in the Antebellum South

Banking and the Civil War

Greenback Revolution

During the Civil War, some legitimate Northern engravers turned to counterfeiting Confederate money in an effort to both make a profit and undermine the Confederate cause. Philadelphia’s Samuel Upham’s bogus notes sold like “hot cakes,” despite their being marked along the border “Fac-simile Confederate Notes Sold, Wholesale and Retail.” Enterprising soldiers carrying the notes into the South simply shaved off the incriminating border.

Counterfeit Confederate Notes Publicly Offered for Sale in the “City of Brotherly Love,” 1863, etching by Adalbert John Volck. HNOC, 1964.5.25

Counterfeit Confederate States of America twenty-dollar note, September 2, 1861, lithographic engraving by Hoyer and Ludwig (Richmond, VA). HNOC, gift of Mrs. Julian Peck, 1980.105.2

Confederate States of America one-hundred-dollar note with counterfeit back (reverse), September 2, 1861, lithographic engraving by Hoyer and Ludwig (front printed in Richmond, VA). HNOC, gift of Mrs. Julian Peck, 1980.105.1

Chapter 12: War Bonds for Soldiers

Counterfeit Confederate Notes Publicly Offered for Sale in the “City of Brotherly Love,” 1863, etching by Adalbert John Volck. HNOC, 1964.5.25

Counterfeit Confederate States of America twenty-dollar note, September 2, 1861, lithographic engraving by Hoyer and Ludwig (Richmond, VA). HNOC, gift of Mrs. Julian Peck, 1980.105.2