The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-13

turn its attention early in the course
of its struggle, was that of supplying
a currency. There were but two means
of meeting this need. One was to levy
on the resources OF the southern states
and the other was to set in motion the
printing presses. Great as were the
available resources of the south, they
were altogether inadequate for the car
rying on of the tremendous conflict
that engaged the land and the alter
native had to be accepted as a matter
of necessity. But the task OF turning
out a great mass Of paper currency
was in itself a difficult one. In the
4 secessionist states there was no paper
mill manufacturing the kind OF paper
suitable for money, and no printing
establishment equipped for the prouuc-
ton of notes and bills IN any guam
titles For a time state money anu
the specie on hand at the outbreak OF
fbe war was relied upon. Early in 1861
this was supplemented by notes OF
small denominations issued in the name
of the Confederate States of America
and printed in Richmond, the seat OF
the Confederate government. These
earlier efforts commanded little re-
specf even among the ardent sup
porters of the Confederacy. The notes
were contemptuously termed rag /
money. They were a poor quality OF
paper and the design was calculated
to excite the pity OF even an unshliiIuI
counterfeiter- d.,
President Lincoln, the Confederate
leaders realized that they had entered
on a desperate struggle and the plan
then adopted was to issue treasury
notes convertible at the pleasure OF the
holder into bonds More than 6O0,0OO,-
- ~
within the next two years. Before the
work could even be begun on any
large scale ii was necessary to smugSle
the paper and presses, the outnt Tor a
large lithographing establishment ana
the men to run this esta biishment
through the blockade which President
Lincoln had declared on all southern
ports Like most OF their other sup
niles. the Confederate leaders got these
from England and brought them in by
way of the West Indies. How the TASK
of turning out from 6O,OOO,OOO 10 lO0,
100000 of paper money every week,
which the Confederacy had set Tor
itself was carried out, forms an inter-
esting chapter in the unwritten history
of the Confederate movement ana is
here set down for the first time IN the
narrative Of Mr.. John Hodge, one OF
the few survivors of the group OF
Young English printers and htho-
eraphers brought 10 Charleston, 5. c,
in 1862. for the express purpose of
making Confederate money. Mr. Hodge
is now an American citizen. the man
ager of a Autograph company Sthe
American Label company, in New
York City.
In April, 1862. when 1 was in my
oath year, l was working in London
for Charles Straker * Sons, large
lithograp hing establishment; 1 had
then been eight years at my trade as
o photographer and was considered a
fairly good workman. All England
was greatly interested in the American
struggle. and therefore, we looked
with curiosity at a man of distin-
euished appearance, plainly IN Amerl-
can. VINO visited our shop one day,
and who was reported 10 be an agent
Of the Confederate states, engaged in
purchasing supplies. Our interest was
greatly increased when. a story got
about that the American gentleman
had purchased the machinery for
large lithographing plant from our
firm, and was looking about for
number of young fellows 10 man TINS
establishment, which was TO be de-
voted TO printing money for the Con-
federacy.
The prospect of large pay and lively
adventure was as attractive TO me as
il is likely to be to young fellow OF
that age, and 1 went to the head of the
recommend me to our American Nlsl-
tor. As result I was invited TO
visit Major Evans, of Charleston, 5 C.,
at his hotel, and Went TO see him IN
company with ten other workers at
my craft. We found the major very
agreeable person and the upshot OF our
interview was that we agreed to so TO
Charleston to work for the Confeder-
ate government. We we're promised
$40 a week in gold and a liberal rate
of piece work pays and each man on
signing his contract received from 40
TO GO pounds sterling TO pay the eX-
penses of preparing for the journey
I'VE left London on May 10, 1862,
on the ship Leopard of Glasgow. We
were the only passengers except three
southern officers and Major Evans.
who joined US al Cardiff, where our
ship stopped to make some additions
10 her cargo. we stopped again at
Queenstown and from there sailed di-
rectly for Bermuda in the West Indies.
At all these places more cargo was
brought aboard. but although we We're
pretty certain that it consisted Of mill
tary stores we were not allowed to
know anything about that. and were
kept under military discipline.
From Bermuda we went TO Nassau,
and there we were told that both our
party and the ships cargo would be
divided into two and would proceed by
separate boats for the short but dan
gerous part of the journey still before
US. Our party, containing Major Evans
and six of our men, was put on the
Autonica. a regular blockade runner,
and the rest of us went on the w NJ.
Seabrook an American riverbOat, COM
manded by Captain Dan Vincent, who
was known as one of the most daring
of the Charleston, pilots AS we sailed
out of Nassau harbor with the
Palmetto flag and the half crescent, the
south Carolina revenue flag, at our
masthead. We were cheered by the peO-
pie on shore and saluted by the other
vessels in the harbor. for, the object of
our Journey was well known
'eThe Seabrook was a light draught
boat. and the captains plan was not to
san directly into Charleston harbor, but
to slip in through an inlet with which
he was acquainted. Unfortunately he
made a slight miscalculation as to the
tides. and that proved his undo
ing. One morning as we were bearing
Il, close to the South Carolina coast
we saw a United States cruiser looming
nm close at hand. The Seabrook sped
away up Bulls Inlet and the little
stream which Captain Vincent had
been making for where the cruiser
could not follow US although she
chased US as lar as she could and fired
a shot or two across our bows. But as
1 said before, the captain had miscal-
culated the tide, which was further
ont than he supposed, and presently we