Confederate States dollar

Common card · No. 222284

The Confederate States dollar was the currency of the Confederate States. It was not backed by hard assets, but simply by a promise to pay the bearer after the war, on the prospect of Southern victory and independence. As the Civil War progressed and victory for the South seemed less and less likely, its value declined. After the Confederacy's defeat by the Union, its money had no value, with many individuals and banks losing hefty amounts of sums. The first series of Confederate paper money, issued in March 1861, bore interest and had a total circulation of $1,000,000. As the war began to turn against the Confederates, confidence in the currency diminished, and the government inflated the currency by continuing to print unbacked banknotes. By the end of 1863, the Confederate States dollar (or "Grayback", to distinguish it from then-new "Greenback" paper of the U.S. dollar, which was likewise put into circulation during the war) was quoted at just six cents in gold, and fell further still...

Read on Wikipedia · Image National Museum of American History, Public domain