By Mike Fitzpatrick
As a result of the war, the federal government suspended specie payments to maintain its bullion reserves. The move forced Congress in 1861 to authorize the U.S. Treasury to issue paper currency for the first time since the American Revolution and the earliest days of the Republic. At the same time, the federal government severely restricted the ability of state banks to issue unreliable paper money as had been the norm for many years.
This Union soldier, his youth suggestive of a drummer boy, poses with a United States Demand Note, series of Aug. 1, 1862, stuffed in the open breast of his coat. Ninth-plate tintype by an anonymous photographer. Author’s Collection.