Most modern civilizations since ancient Greek and Roman times used coins as the primary monetary system.
According to Lee Ann Bain of Walk Charleston History, Colonial Americans didn’t have ready access to the precious metals needed for coins, so paper money became the preferred type of currency. In 1703, South Carolina was the second colony to print paper money. After the Revolution, the new U.S. government forbade states to issue coinage but allowed their banks to print and guarantee paper money. Twenty South Carolina banks subsequently issued money, often decorating their bills with images of locally or regionally important people, products and scenes.
The Farmers and Exchange Bank in Charleston was one of those banks. It was built in 1854 on East Bay Street and designed by Edward C. Jones, the same architect who had just designed Greenville’s original Furman “Old Main” buildings. In an 1854 $10 bank note example, on the lower left of the note is bank president William M. Martin, the lower right features an engraved scene of enslaved cotton pickers, and the primary middle scene highlights the impressive array of the city’s maritime fleet.
The same year this bank note was issued in 1854, one of the South’s wealthiest men, Ker Boyce, died. His son, James Petigru Boyce, settled his father’s estate and moved to Greenville to teach at Furman University.
During the Civil War, paper money from places like the Farmers and Exchange Bank and the Bank of Charleston was worthless, so the Confederates began to issue their new government’s own paper currency. Interestingly, the National Bank Note Co. of New York printed the South’s first $1 million dollar batch of paper money and smuggled it to the new government in Montgomery, Alabama. Following this, the Confederate Treasury issued many types of paper bank notes with various portraits and scenes.
The money wasn’t backed by precious metals or assets but by a promise to pay the holder back after the war. As years of war passed, the currency became less valuable.
On an 1863 $1 bill example, the promise that “Six months after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the Confederate States and the United States, the Confederate States of America will pay to the bearer on demand ONE DOLLAR” was printed along with a prominent engraved portrait of Jefferson Davis. Each note was hand signed by the Confederacy treasurer and dated. By the end of the year, this “greyback,” as such bills were called, was worth just 6 cents.
Despite the declining value, wording for the promise became more optimistic on a $20 note from 1864 saying, “Two years after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the Confederacy States and the United States of America, the Confederate States of America will pay TWENTY DOLLARS to the bearer on demand.” In a direct connection to Greenville, this note has a sticker on the reverse from F.A. Walter Drug Store, which occupied the corner building of West Washington and South Main streets and is now home to Sushi Murasaki. At the time of issue, this $20 note was actually only worth 60 cents.
When the war ended, all $1.7 billion worth of Confederacy notes printed during the war were worthless. Today they provide an interesting glimpse into this troubled era of American and Greenville history.
John M. Nolan is owner of Greenville History Tours (greenvillehistorytours.com) and author of “A Guide to Historic Greenville, SC” and “Lost Restaurants of Greenville, SC.”
