At the close of 1864, in Mobile, Alabama, $1 in gold was worth $25 in state currency, and prices were as follows:—
| Wheat, per bushel | $30.00 to | $40.00 | ||
| Corn, per bushel | 10.00 | |||
| Coffee, per pound | 20.00 | |||
| Fresh beef, per pound | 150.00 | |||
| Bacon, per pound | 4.00 | |||
| Domestics, per yard | 5.00 | |||
| Calico, per yard | 15.00 | |||
| A horse | $1500.00 to | 2000.00 | ||
| Salt, per sack | 150.00 to | 200.00 | ||
| Quinine, per ounce | 150.00 | [474] | ||
The War Department published, on September 26, 1864, the following prices[475] as agreed upon by the commissioners of February 17, 1864, for the states east of the Mississippi:—
| Bacon, per pound | $2.50 | |
| Fresh beef, per pound | .70 | |
| Flour, per barrel | 40.00 | |
| Meal, per bushel | 4.00 | |
| Rice, per pound | .30 | |
| Peas, per bushel | 6.50 | |
| Sugar, per pound | 3.00 | |
| Coffee, per pound | 6.00 | |
| Candles, per pound | 3.75 | |
| Soap, per pound | 1.00 | |
| Vinegar, per gallon | 2.50 | |
| Molasses, per gallon | 10.00 | |
| Salt, per pound | .30 |
The commissioners’ prices were always lower than the prevailing market price.
A little property or labor would pay a large debt. Merchants did not want to be paid in money, and were sorry to see a debtor come in with great rolls of almost worthless currency. Barter was increasingly resorted to. There were so many different series and issues of money and so many regulations concerning it that no one could know them all, and this operated to discredit the currency. Besides, it was known that much of it was counterfeited at the North and quantities sent South. Prices advanced rapidly in 1865; state money was worth more than Confederate money, though it was much depreciated. Board was worth $600 a month; meals, $10 to $25 each; a boiled egg, $2; a cup of imitation coffee, $5. After the news of Lee’s surrender, few would accept the paper money, though for two or three months longer, in remote districts, state money remained in circulation.
When Wilson’s army was marching into Montgomery, a young man asked an old negro woman who stood gazing at the soldiers if she could give him a piece of paper to light his pipe. She fumbled in her pocket and handed him a one-dollar state bill. “Why, auntie, that is money!” remarked the young man. “Haw, haw!” the old crone chuckled, “light it, massa; don’t you see de state done gone up?”[476]
Sec. 3. Blockade-running and Trade through the Lines
Blockade-running
For several months after the secession of the state, its one important seaport—Mobile—was open, and export and import trade went on as usual. The proclamation of Lincoln, April 19, 1861, practically declared a blockade of the ports of the southern states. A vessel attempting to enter or to leave was to be warned, and if a second attempt was made, the vessel was to be seized as a prize.[477] By proclamations of April 27 and August 16, 1861, the blockade was extended and made more stringent. All vessels and cargoes belonging to citizens of the southern states found at sea or in a port of the United States were to be confiscated.[478] As the summer advanced, the blockade was made more and more effective, until finally, at the end of 1861, the port of Mobile was closed to all but the professional blockade-runners.[479] The fact that the legislature in the fall of 1861 was fostering various new industries and purchasing certain articles of common use shows that the effects of the blockade were beginning to be felt.[480]