Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've attached a segment of a CSA Receipt for goods sold by one of my ancestors. The handwriting is very neat, but I'm struggling to figure out what he sold to them. He was primarily a farmer, but also a businessman, so there's a good chance he was a middle man. He was also a Confederate officer serving in Charleston, where these were delivered. I guess it didn't hurt to be on the good side of the quartermaster.
It looks like "Jeans" but whatever it is was priced by the yard, and pretty doggone expensive for those times, @ $3.75 per yard. Anybody got a better guess than Jeans? Can't figure out why jeans would be sold by the yard. Thanks for any thoughts.
That does seem abnormally expensive. $3.75 in 1863, would be around $73 today, so it'd be like paying $73 for one yard of fabric. That doesn't sound right, unless maybe the war made fabric supplies extremely difficult to come by?
Before the war, most fabric in the South was imported. It was more economically sound to import than to produce labor-intensive homespun fabrics even though many imports were more than $1 a yard. After the war began, blockades caused a major shortage. But they had cotton so textile mills began springing up to try to meet the demand. It was expensive to build the manufacturing base they didn't have before and to source the materials.
Last edited by SimplySagacious; 04-07-2016 at 10:59 AM..
Thanks for the feedback. I thought it said jeans, but I couldn't figure out how to get from there to yards. I was not familiar with jean wool, so thanks very much for the link. The only thing I can figure on the price was this was probably Confederate dollars. By 1863, the exchange rate may not have translated well to US $$. Thanks again for all the help.
Thanks for the feedback. I thought it said jeans, but I couldn't figure out how to get from there to yards. I was not familiar with jean wool, so thanks very much for the link. The only thing I can figure on the price was this was probably Confederate dollars. By 1863, the exchange rate may not have translated well to US $$. Thanks again for all the help.
Ah, yes, I hadn't thought of that - indeed, it sounds like the Confederate dollar suffered greatly from inflation. Wikipedia says an ordinary suit of clothing could cost $2,700.
Thanks for the feedback. I thought it said jeans, but I couldn't figure out how to get from there to yards. I was not familiar with jean wool, so thanks very much for the link. The only thing I can figure on the price was this was probably Confederate dollars. By 1863, the exchange rate may not have translated well to US $$. Thanks again for all the help.
Good point. In 1861 a one dollar gold coin took $1.25 Confederate dollars. By Feb 1863, the date of your invoice, one dollar gold coin took $3.00 Confederate dollars.
As bad as the inflation was already in the Confederacy, this was before it got *really* bad:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
), etc..
