The secession of the southern states in the early 1860s led to the formation of the Confederacy. After South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, seven states followed although it was thought that there would be double that initially. Secession was a delegate decision state by state and after the election and fall of Fort Sumter in April of 1861, some states decided against it. However, once the Confederate States were established, currency circulated heavily throughout the South during the American Civil War. But as we have come to learn throughout this blog series, that currency still was not enough in the South. This led to the enactment of individual states issuing their own currency.
North Carolina
While North Carolina found itself in the middle of a war and secession they did not want, it would be inevitable that they would be one of the states to secede. However, before the inevitable, the people of the state voted in February 1861 by a small majority to not approve the arrangement of a convention to even talk about secession. That all changed after the attack on Fort Sumter and the immediate calling for troops from President Abraham Lincoln. As they found themselves in the middle of a war and secession they did not want originally, they also found themselves physically located in the middle of secession as South Carolina and Virginia flanked either side of the state. With a governor that favored breaking away from the United States in agreement with a number of Legislators who finally authorized a convention in May of 1861, succession was voted upon unanimously and an Ordinance of Secession was issued the same day.
The governor of North Carolina, John W. Ellis, committed to the enrollment of 30,000 men but overall, the state ended up supplying between 125,000 and 130,000 men the Confederacy. They also fed and clothed their own soldiers while suffering around a quarter of total Confederate losses. North Carolina’s port at Wilmington has been recognized as the reason Confederate forces were able to stay in the field in the East as long as they were able to. Supplies were often administered through the port and it remained so until its fall in February of 1865. The port at Wilmington is featured on the $5 note issued on January 1, 1863 (NC-33).
After Governor Ellis left office, the next governor of North Carolina was war determined. Zebulon B. Vance (1862-1865) appeared on $20 and $50 notes issued on January 1, 1863. However, after their Reconstruction period was over he once again became governor in 1877 until 1879. While North Carolina was an important part of the Confederacy, it did not have the greatest luck with paper money. This translated into over $10 million worth of varieties by the end of the American Civil War. There are so many varieties from the state that it caused them to not even consider printing more issues during the Reconstruction period.
Again, there are so many varieties resulting from North Carolina that include but are not limited to the following denominations: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. The state even did a number of fractional cent issues including 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, and 75 cents. All of these denominations have a number of different issue dates, years, vignettes, designs, etc.
Source: Confederate States Paper Money: Civil War Currency From the South (12th Edition) by George S. Cuhaj & William Brandimore