Lincoln's reelection the Confederate cause was
doomed. The cheering of the troops which greeted the news from the North
was heard within the lines at Richmond and at Petersburg; and although
the leaders maintained their attitude of defiance, the impression
rapidly gained ground among the people that the end was not far off. The
stimulus of hope being gone, they began to feel the pinch of increasing
want. Their currency had become almost worthless. In October, a dollar
in gold was worth thirty-five dollars in Confederate money. With the
opening of the new year the price rose to sixty dollars, and, despite
the efforts of the Confederate treasury, which would occasionally rush
into the market and beat down the price of gold ten or twenty per cent.
a day, the currency gradually depreciated until a hundred for one was
offered and not taken. It was natural for the citizens of Richmond to
think that monstrous prices were being extorted for food, clothing, and
supplies, when in fact they were paying no more than was reasonable. To
pay a thousand dollars for a barrel of flour was enough to strike a
householder with terror but ten dollars is not a famine price. High
prices, however, even if paid in dry leaves, are a hardship when dry
leaves are not plentiful; and there was scarcity even of Confederate
money in the South.
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