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The Confederate Counterfeiter

King of counterfeiting

By Blessing AkpanPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 5 min read
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Image : Wikimedia

We’re talking about the king of Confederate counterfeit, Samuel Curtis Upham. He was a first-time counterfeiter of money of the Confederate side of the American Civil War. He was making fake Confederate money and was scamming the racists. The majority of the Confederate South didn’t own slaves but went out to war and were dying to own slaves of the low possibility that one day they’ll get super-rich and be able to own other people.

It’s more tragic to be an aspiring slave owner than it is to be a slave owner. Like if you’re a slave owner, you’re doing something reprehensible and terrible but you’re getting something out of it. If you don’t even own slaves, you’re getting nothing out of it and yet you choose to help uphold it. It’s very sad, right?

Upham is said to have produced 12 different types of Confederate notes and postage stamps and sold upwards of 80,000 fake notes by May of 1862, which was a key contribution to the tanking of the Confederate economy.

I feel like the Confederacy didn’t have their shit together. The fact that he could come up with 12 different notes and they didn’t notice until later.

Upham was probably like, I don’t know, today we put this the President had on the corner, the printing press broke my other models. He was also doing postage stamps, which makes sense.

At age 20, Upham left his parent's farm in hopes of finding a job as a clerk in New York. Over the next few years, he had joined the Navy, traveled, got married, and sailed to California. He moves around and sails to California. He participates in the Gold Rush and realized that he’s not a good gold miner. He eventually settles in Philadelphia and opens up a shop.

At the start of the Civil War, Upham began marketing patriotic items to support the union and novelty items mocking the Confederacy. He was making all these items and he had something for everybody. One of them was a card that depicted the head of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the body of a jackass.

On February 24, 1862, big news broke, and all over town, people were in a rush to get their hands on The Philadelphia Inquirer. By this time, Upham owned a home zone store; a combination pharmacy perfumery and stationery shop.

So Upham stopped a customer purchasing the paper and asked what the fuss was about. The man told him a picture of a $5 Confederate bro was printed on the front page paper. It was the first time many Northerners had seen it and so they put a picture of money in the paper, which at the time, didn’t seem like such a good idea. The newspaper pointed out the exact dimensions of the Confederate dollar.

Upham grabbed The Enquirer to see for himself. The paper had made a strikingly detailed replica of the note. He immediately contacted the reporter who had written the story and learned The Enquirer had used a printing plate to strike the currency note for reproduction.

Considering the process, if it worked, he would not only undermine the Confederate economy but make himself a good bit of money. And that’s how the scam started; he offered to buy the plate from the reporter then used it to run off 3000 copies of the banknote printed on premium French paper.

Because this was the real thing it was so easily duplicated. Upham decided to capitalize on the replica money and he also knew some people might take it upon themselves to use it as actual money.

He was selling it as 'merch’. As a form of insurance policy against any fraud claims he added ‘facsimile Confederate note' to the bottom of each bill. He sold the $5 notes for a penny apiece beginning in March of 1862. He sold out of his initial print almost immediately. Another periodical Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper had a plate for a $10 bill.

He eventually got samples of the denominations by offering to buy them at a premium. By May he was offering 14 different denominations along with Confederate stamps and other mementos of the rebellion. Many union allies bought them as collectibles, newsboys sold them on the street for a modest profit, and others saw an opportunity. The bills made their way to the Confederate occupants who bought them for 30 to 40 cents on the dollar. Some people used the bills for cotton purchases, then they would smuggle and make it back into the union territory. The biggest sellers were the $100 bills which cost no more than a smaller denomination, so he was selling this for cheap. He was selling these bills to people for like 30 -40 cents, maybe $1.

He was doing fraud in broad daylight and in addition to advertising them as amusement, he labeled each note with his name and mailing address.

He does eventually get caught. President Davis discovered this and deeply disapproved of the fakes and in the Confederate paper, the Richmond daily dispatch accused the union of scoundrel-ism.

The Congress of the Confederacy criminalize counterfeiting as an offense punishable by death and offered $10,000 if someone could deliver Upham to a Confederate court dead or alive.

As polarized as the nation was, the federal agents couldn’t turn a blind eye to someone printing reams of money and they paid Upham. The authorities were concerned he was counterfeiting both Confederate and union dollars. The case was turned over to the Secretary of War, who dismissed the possibility of any wrongdoing when he found out that Upham was only targeting Southern notes. Legally, it was none of their concern.

Upham caused so much damage to the Confederacy from March 1862 to August 1863. He figured out that he put around $15 million of fake currency into circulation. As the war cooled down, Confederate States found themselves with a surplus of currency and an increasingly devalued dollar. This man might have helped win the war. A parent of tea cost $35 in Richmond, Virginia barrels of flour were going up for $1,000 and that’s like a million dollars in today’s economy. So now, they’re just trying to figure out how much money do people have.

Mississippi senator, Henry food said Upham had done more damage to the Confederacy than general McClellan’s army had. Upham discontinued his facsimile business in late 1863 and returned to selling stationery, perfume, and hair dye. His notes were still being used in the war-torn South by Union soldiers and other persons after he shut down his business.

Upham died in 1885 at the age of 66. He lived to 66 in 1885. He had all that money. He was living well. He was buying the best health care. So he left an estate worth nearly $5,000. Much of it is presumed to come from his bursts of activity doing counterfeiting.

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About the Creator

Blessing Akpan

I am a photographer of thoughts, let me capture your soul.

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