February 7, 2009

By 1864, inflation had rendered Confederate currency worthless, leading to desperation among Southerners living in cities, who depended on money to buy food. Judith McGuire wrote about wartime food prices in Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by a Lady of Virginia, “Coffee is $4 per pound, and good tea from $18 to $20; butter ranges from $1.50 to $2 per pound; lard 50 cents; corn $15 per barrel; and wheat $4.50 per bushel.”

There were at least thirteen food riots in the Confederacy during the later years of the war. Jefferson Davis tried to stop a bread riot in Richmond by offering a mob of rampaging housewives money from his own pockets. His money was as worthless as theirs, and the angry mob only dispersed after Davis threatened that hastily assembled troops would open fire if they didn’t go back home.

The more wealth a family had, the less impact the food shortages had on their daily lives. Mary Boykin Chesnut, a Charleston socialite whose husband James was an advisor to Jefferson Davis, recorded the menu of a “luncheon to ladies only” given by Mrs. Davis in late January, 1864: “Gumbo, ducks and olives, chickens in jelly, oysters, lettuce salad, chocolate cream, jelly cake, claret, champagne, etc., were the good things set before us.”

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2 Comments »

1. 

   The scary thing is-yes, in theory, it could. In the 1860s, the economy of America (and especially the South) was over 90 percent agricultural, meaning over 90 percent of all Americans produced their own food. Today, it’s less than 3 percent.

   Comment by chefrick — February 10, 2009 @ 8:35 am

2. 

   Scary times for those with less wealth. Could it ever get as bad again in our country???

   Comment by Hendersonville Epicurean — February 9, 2009 @ 10:33 pm

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