Question about Currency in Georgia, 1864

Gary Morgan

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Hello, All!

I'm working on writing about two brothers who served as guards at Andersonville with the 4th Georgia Reserves. In one of his letters home, the other brother writes, "Tell Pa to send me some money by West [a "servant" of the family's]. I have plenty of old issue but want him to send me some."

Does anyone know why there was apparently new script issued, and why he apparently couldn't use the older money? This letter is dated May, 1864, and in June, his sister replies and says, "P.S. Pa says he hasn’t any new issue and that you must exchange your money for the new issue."

Does anyone know what they are talking about?
 
By that date the Confederacy was already on It's 7th issue of paper money. They encouraged retiring the old issue by taxing it out of existence by a certain date. The reduction of circulation was meant to be done by buying bonds. It appears this practice was not too sucessful judging by the amount of older notes still in existence.I don't recall the amount of time,6 months I think, to redeem your old notes for bonds. Plus the bonds were not immediately available either. The public was issued a Certificate of Deposit that could later be redeemed when the bonds became available. Maybe someone more knowledgable on the subject will step in.
 
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The State of Georgia issued its own state currency during the War. The older issues had to be exchanged for the new 1864 issues:

State of Georgia Civil War Currency

ACT OF DECEMBER 14, 1863


This act was originally passed in order to allow the conversion of Treasury Notes into large-denomination Treasury Certificates. Some investors in the state had accumulated large amounts of Treasury Notes and had found that this approach was both bulky and inconvenient. The new Treasury Certificates significantly eased this problem. Eighty-three $5,000 Treasury Certificates, 29 $10,000 Treasury Certificates, and 38 $20,000 certificates were issued in exchange for $1,465,000 in older Treasury Notes.

Subsequently, new "change bills" (dated January 1st, 1864) in the denominations of 50 Cents (115,500 issued), $1 (39,000 issued), $2 (99,000 issued), $3 (50,000 issued), and $4 (25,000 issued) were also authorized, totaling $544,750.

At an extra session of the General Assembly on March 17, 1864, an additional $12 million issue of Treasury Notes (dated April 6th, 1864) was also authorized, in part, to replace Confederate States of America notes which were being withdrawn by the central government. The [State of Georgia] denominations authorized for the April 6, 1864 notes were $5 (190,000 issued), $10 (100,000 issued), $20 (75,000 issued), $50 (30,000 issued), $100 (25,000 issued), $500 (1,200 issued.) The total issue was $8,050,000.
Shull, Hugh, A Guide Book to Southern States Currency, pg. 114
 
The State of Georgia issued its own state currency during the War. The older issues had to be exchanged for the new 1864 issues:

State of Georgia Civil War Currency

ACT OF DECEMBER 14, 1863


This act was originally passed in order to allow the conversion of Treasury Notes into large-denomination Treasury Certificates. Some investors in the state had accumulated large amounts of Treasury Notes and had found that this approach was both bulky and inconvenient. The new Treasury Certificates significantly eased this problem. Eighty-three $5,000 Treasury Certificates, 29 $10,000 Treasury Certificates, and 38 $20,000 certificates were issued in exchange for $1,465,000 in older Treasury Notes.

Subsequently, new "change bills" (dated January 1st, 1864) in the denominations of 50 Cents (115,500 issued), $1 (39,000 issued), $2 (99,000 issued), $3 (50,000 issued), and $4 (25,000 issued) were also authorized, totaling $544,750.

At an extra session of the General Assembly on March 17, 1864, an additional $12 million issue of Treasury Notes (dated April 6th, 1864) was also authorized, in part, to replace Confederate States of America notes which were being withdrawn by the central government. The [State of Georgia] denominations authorized for the April 6, 1864 notes were $5 (190,000 issued), $10 (100,000 issued), $20 (75,000 issued), $50 (30,000 issued), $100 (25,000 issued), $500 (1,200 issued.) The total issue was $8,050,000.
Shull, Hugh, A Guide Book to Southern States Currency, pg. 114
Thank you, Copperhead-mi! That's why I love this forum. We all have different fields of knowledge and everyone is really generous when it comes to helping each other out!
 
It does appear that the Georgia Act predates the Confederate Act of Feb.17, 1864. The latter Act was to reduce circulation of the old issues, introduce new currency, and to provide Certificates of Deposit for the bonds if they are unavailable.
 
It does appear that the Georgia Act predates the Confederate Act of Feb.17, 1864. The latter Act was to reduce circulation of the old issues, introduce new currency, and to provide Certificates of Deposit for the bonds if they are unavailable.
Arlie R. Slabaugh, in his book Confederate States Paper Money, claims that the 1864 attempt by the Confederate Treasury to remove earlier issues of Confederate currency from circulation by exchanging them for the February 17, 1864 issued notes, bonds or being taxed out of existence didn't matter or work because the value of the Confederate dollar was so low that the earlier issues of Confederate currency retained the same value and remained in circulation along with the new and as it turned out, final issue of Confederate currency and bonds.

edited to add - I see that you already mentioned much of this in your post #2.
 
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