Confederate Chemicograph Backs

On the eve of the American Civil War's commencement, the newly formed Confederacy rushed to generate their own currency. The first bills were circulated in April 1861, just days before Fort Sumter was bombarded in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. In many ways Confederate dollars were ahead of their time. Instead of being backed by hard assets like gold or silver, the currency were essentially bills of credit, and promised to repay their owner the actual dollar value once the war had concluded and the Confederacy was victorious in its repulsion of the Union troops. After Gettysburg, confidence waned and inflation skyrocketed.

Another challenge besides inflation for the Confederate Treasury was a dearth of highly skilled engravers and printers in the South, as well as limited access to bank plates. As a result, many of the
bills had images that had been lifted from the original plates or notes that were available to the printers. In all, there were seven series of banknotes issued by the Confederacy between 1861 and 1864, the last one authorized by an act passed in February of 1864. For this last round of printing, the Confederates commissioned plates from an English engraver, S. Straker and Sons; the plates were called "Chemicograph backs" in reference to Straker's patented electrotyping process.

Most of these plates never made it to the South, mostly likely lost at sea because of Union blockades. However, a small number survived. One set of surviving plates made their way into the hands of Philip Hartley Chase 1907, who donated them to the Smithsonian. Before doing so, he had a limited number of sets of prints struck from those plates. Chase then arranged to sell those prints in collectible packets, with the proceeds going to Dartmouth College. He eventually gave the Library a small set of the printed backs, along with other printed materials explaining their provenance.

To look through the various denomination for yourself, come to Special Collections and ask to see the "Chemicograph Backs and Confederate Treasury Notes" collection (MS-493).