The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-20
THE CoNFEDERATE CAPITAL.
How the People of Richmond Lived During
the Seige.

How the People of Richmond Lived During
the Seige.
7. j. Murray, in National Republican.
have been asked how the people of Richmond
managed to get food during the closing days,
when confederate currency was go fearfully de-
preciated. l was about to say 'damfno," but on
reflection think L can give easy solution of
the matter And, first, | will say that. although
the bluebacks were so much deprecated II you
only had enough of them you could purchase
anything you wished, and the volume of notes
in circulation was immense. l recollect that a
fellow from Jefferson county, who some plea
or other was exempt from service, and who
exceedingly convivial in his habits, whenever he
wished to make purchases or visit the saloons or
faro banks was accustomed to be followed by a
stalwart negro bearing large valise crammed
to the brim with the confederate tokens of in
debtedness, perhaps hundred thousand dollars
or so, and he never "braced up until he had
got rid of the entire pile, and it didn't take him
long, either, to do So
Contrary to the common belief, there was no
lack of provisions or delicaces in Richmond at
any time during the war, but the prices measured
by alleged dollars were simply stupendous l do
not remember that there was any actual suffer
ing among the people, although food and drink
were of course economically dealt with. / recol-
lect also. that there was a bread riot of so large
propoportlons as to call for the intervention of
the military, but the women, black and white,
who were the chief participants, were of the
so much as pure devitry. 1t is a curious fact
that what called the lower classes Jared bet
ter. as far as provisions were concerned, than
the office holders or the wealthier citizens The
salaries of the Office holders, both confederate
and State, were grossly inadequate to
provide for their families, and the wealth
Ter citizens at the outset of the
war had invested, almost without exception, all
their available means in the per cent bonds
of the confederate government. Those who
"
returns for labor was in great demand; but the
trouble was that the confederate authorities
conscripted all able bodied negroes as drivers of
mule teams, laborers on the Notifications, etc.,
just they conscripted able bodied whites for
service in the field, and the hire given to the
masters was but a 1.-THE of what could have been
procured in open market
Talk about Washington being city of board
circumstance to the confederate capital.
Nearly every house. and especially
of people of limited means, was
filed with dodgers, and nearly every
other house was an eating house. The poorer
whites and blacks made money hand over fist by
cooking provisions, and selling them from stands
on the streets and at the depots, to the huge
swarms of hungry people who were constantly
coming and going. The population proper of
Richmond was not a fourth of the vast crowd
that daily and nightly congregated within its cor
porate limits. 1t was the Mecca of the Confed
eracy, and the pilgrimages made thereto were
constant in theircoming. Officers and soldiers,
Jewish merchants, 'exempts," blockade-runners
refugees from Maryland and West Virginia. and
from counties of the State held by the federals,
poured in steady stream into the lap of the
city, and the people OF the city made their living
and indeed, i. may be said, in many instances
waxed fat, in feeding and lodging the hungry
horde
Now have seen it stated somewhere that the
confederate authorities. in order not to starve
their officials to death, extended the same privi
leges to them il did to its officers in the field,
viz. TO draw ration and buy ration at the
government valuation, which was not one tenth
the cost of provisions in the markets. This is
all a mistake. AS far as the officials were con-
cerned every tub had to stand on its own bot
tom" If man couldn't live on the salary of
his Office there hundreds of others anxious
to take his place, and offer bonus for the OPP
portunity. In fact, when the fighting got to be
fast and furious. and the campaigns terrible in
in their hardships, in the Richmond Examiner,
John NJ. Daniel openly charged that the confed
crate and State offices had become a matter of
bargain and sale to the sons of rich men who de-
sired to shirk standing up to be shot at with
their compatriots in the field