The Portland daily press., 1897-12-30
WAR TIME CHRISTMAS.
How 1t Was Observed in Atlanta in 1863
Confederate Money Was Plenty and
Merchants Did a Good Business.


lanta was in 1868. 1t is true that the
Confederates had regained possession of
the town in December, 1854. but the
ruins left by Sherman in November were
still smoking, and this shattered and
blasted wreck of q city was then the most
desolate spot on the continent. Few Of
the exiled citizens had returned, and
there were no Christmas shoppers, no
Christmas shops, and no Christmas.
But Christmas in 1868 was entirely diff
erent. At that time Atlanta was a big
city. 1t was the citadel of the Confed
eracy. Thirty thousand people dwelt
here, and tine officers and soldiers at the
post and passing through made large
floating population. Gen. Joe Johnston's
army was then near the Tennessee line,
strong safeguard, and the average Allan
tian did not dream that before the end of
another year Sherman's blue hosts would
be in the very heart of Georgia. The Con-
federacy had met with many disasters,
but matters had not reached their worst,
and the plucky people still hoped.
So Atlanta was gay war metropolis
merchants strained every nerve to pur-
chase Christmas stocks, and they sue
ceeded remarkably well. They sent buy
ers to Charleston and other cities, and
bought everything in sight long before the
holidays, for they knew that trade would
be brisk There were thousands of shop
pers. The Confederacy maintained at this
HI
and quartermaster's departments. large
foundries and factories turning out shot
and shell. cannon, revolvers,. swords,
drums, buttons, canteens, tents, cloth
ing, and hundreds Of other things useful
in war and in peace. The operatives and
clerks in these establishments numbered
thousands and many of them had fami
lies. Then the country people came in
from hundred miles around. Officers
and soldiers on furloughs eentered here,
and the houses and streets were crowded
all the tina.
The dry goods stores could not make
much of a display, nor the clothing and
jewelry houses, but the book stores, con-
PETITIONERS, milliners and fancy gro
Twenty Confederate dollars would buy
one gold dollar or four or five dollars in
greenbacks. So it was worth something,
and there was plenty O.. it. The poorer
classes wisely confined their purchases
to articles of necessity. Perhaps they
treated themselves to a little genuine
coffee at $40 pound, or bought some
hour and beef at about their weight in
silver Many were determined to have
dram, and they bought whisky at s25 a
bottle. Young men who wanted new
suits of citizens clothing managed to get
very decent outfit for 5000. 1t was not
line, of course, but it was neat and SER
Ficeable.
There were spectators here with enor-
nous quantities Of money. They had
given orders to blockade runners months
before, and they and their wives and
daughters fairly blazed and glittered with
diamonds and jewelry. These people then
dressed better than they ever dressed be-
fore. They bought everything that would
make a show. They were pointed at MS
millionaires-peopl who before the war
had been mere hirelings or down in the
gutter. The gave functions and were
always entertaining officers of high rank.
1t was easy for the rich and INSCRIPTIONS
to keep out of the army They escaped
CONSUMPTION by getting certificates of
physical disability, or by obtaining lit
tie government position in which there
was no work to DO. Thus protected, they
were free to speculate and coin money
out of the mistortunes of their neighbors.
The ragged Confederates who passed
through tue city hate these sharks, and
would gladly have iynched the entire
crowd, and they would have done a good
service it they had strung them up to the
lamp posts, for q moro heartIeSs crowd of
wretohes never lived. One Of this gang
actually wanted the city council TO pass
an ordinance requiring the soldiers to
keep off the sidewalks and walk in the
middle of the streets. His idea was that
the poor fellows were too dirty 10 be oil
lowed to brush against nicely dressed
citizens. The Atlanta of those days had
Its Shyloclz aristocrats, just as she has
cow. l am happy to say that not one
OF them, SO far as l remember, held on
to his nl-gotten gains. have seen many
of the millionaires OF their stripe almost
begging for bread in the city where they
had once reyeled in the insOlence of their
wealth. OF cousre these spendthrifts en-
joyed a mad and reckless Christmas, and
they had more festive cheer around their
nresides than they have ever had since.
. The other shoppers interested me most
those self-respceting soldiers and citizens
who had little money which they felt
that they could afford to spend in legiti-
mate IuXuries and comforts. People of
this class crowded the book stores. They
could buy dozen nicely bound volumes
of standard works for $500 or $500, unless
they were very fine Some single vol
umes brought from Charleston sold for
hundreds of dollars each, though they
were somewhat discolored by the damp
sea atmosphere. Patriotic shoppers al
ways bought the Confederate publica-
tions. The book store counters had Oh
them at that time Lies Miserables'' in
five volumes, with brown paper back;
''The Captain Of the Vulture, by Miss
Braddon; "No Name" by Wilkie Collins;
Lady Audley's secret, by Miss Brad.
dom" Great Expectations, by Charles
Dickens; Joseph the Second, by Miss
Muhlbach; ''Macaria, by Miss Evans;
l'Clairmonde, by IL Confederate officer
THE Aide-de-Camp," by. james D.
McCahe; Master William Mitten,' by
Judge Longstreet; MRS. Lirriper's LODI
gings," by Charles Dickens; Morgan
and His Men, by Sally Rochester Ford,
and few other volumes, many Of them
with wall paper backs, ranging in price
from 81 to So. Then there was Confed-
crate magazine, published in Richmond,