Civil War Photo Friday: Confederate Currency

I've always liked old paper currency. While my bank account doesn't allow for me to have any Confederate banknotes in my small collection, I find them fascinating. They say so much about the era. This $4 Missouri Defense Bond was issued by the state's Confederate government in exile to pay the Missouri State Guard. It isn't signed so it was probably never issued. Note the steamboat. Missouri provided access to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, vital trading routes that both sides wanted.

This $10 bill from Virginia has always been one of my favorites because the first time I saw one was at a coin and stamp fair in Tehran. How a Confederate banknote ended up in Iran is anyone's guess.

Here's a closeup of the artillery rushing to the front to blast those Yankees back to Washington.

This detail from a $100 bill would remind wealthy plantation owners what they were fighting for. Honorable warriors, dishonorable cause.

You don't hear much about Confederate coinage. Banknotes were more common because most metal went to the war effort. This half dollar was struck in 1861 in New Orleans, shortly before the city fell to the Union.

For more on Confederate currency, check out the Rebel States Currency webpage. It has lots of information and pictures!

Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Guest Post: The Red Legs

I'm always happy to take guest posts from writers and researchers of the Civil War and Old West, and so I'm pleased today to bring you Bill Hoyt, author of Good Hater: George Henry Hoyt's War on Slavery. He's here to tell us about Hoyt's role in the actions of the infamous Red Legs. Take it away Hoyt!


Depending upon who is telling the tale, the Red Legs of Kansas were either soldiers, scouts, and guides particularly fitted for service along the bloody border, or else they were pillagers as “full of the devil as a mackerel is of salt.” The truth was even more complicated.

The Kansas Seventh Volunteer Cavalry, known in Missouri as “Jennison's Jayhawkers,” began wearing red leggings as early as 1861. Quickly picking up the symbol, other Unionist Red Legs thereafter gained a reputation for thieving, looting, and even bank robbery. A number of such gangs pillaged both sides of the Missouri/Kansas border in late 1861 and early 1862, much to the chagrin of the general in charge at Fort Leavenworth, James G. Blunt of Kansas.

Another threat was rising in 1862 that scared Kansans even more than Red Legs: William Clarke Quantrill.  As the Confederate captain grew bolder, looting Shawneetown, Olathe, and a few other border towns that year, the cries grew for a protective force that could keep Quantrill at bay.

Enter Captain George Henry Hoyt, late of the Kansas Seventh Volunteer Cavalry. Though relatively new in Kansas, Hoyt was no stranger to the border. After serving as an attorney during John Brown’s 1859 trial in Virginia, Hoyt had come to Kansas in 1861 with John Brown, Jr., eventually replacing him as captain of Company K, perhaps the most fiercely abolitionist company in any Kansas regiment. As a member of Col. Charles R. “Doc” Jennison’s personal staff, Hoyt had led many raids on bushwhackers, raids from which any captured bushwhackers consistently died “trying to escape.”

While Hoyt’s poor health had forced his resignation from the Seventh, now serving in Mississippi, his July of 1862 return to Kansas made him available for a different kind of duty: running an irregular company of scouts and spies that would provide border “services” to Kansas regiments stationed in and around Kansas City.

He called his company the “Red Leg Scouts,” giving notice to Missourians that he intended to continue what Jennison’s boys had started the prior year. Into that company he gathered nearly three dozen men who knew the order, could not serve in the army for various reasons, and most importantly, were as fearless and as merciless as himself.

Today in history: The USS Essex defeats the CSS Arkansas

On this day 150 years ago the Confederate gunboat CSS Arkansas was defeated on the Mississippi by the USS Essex, two other Union gunboats, and her own bad luck. You can read about this exciting naval battle over at the Civil War Daily Gazette.

I've written about the USS Essex before. It features prominently in the sequel to my Civil War novel A Fine Likeness. The story takes place in late 1864, shortly after the events of that book, and follows the adventures of Allen Addison, the son of Captain Richard Addison, one of the protagonists in A Fine Likeness. This Library of Congress photo shows the USS Essex. I'm thinking of incorporating it into my cover.

Reading about the battle again has given me some ideas for my novel. . .

Curiosity's first look across the Martian landscape

A bit off topic for this blog, but too cool not to share!

Book Review: The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book got my attention because it's the first Western to make it to the Booker Prize shortlist. As other reviewers have noted, it isn't your typical Western. Charlie and Eli Sisters are contract killers sent to hunt down a prospector during the Gold Rush and discover his mysterious Formula. They journey west, meeting all sorts of strange and colorful characters on the way as Eli questions his commitment to the job and his rocky relationship with his brother.

What's most gripping about this novel is its style. It is told almost as a folktale. Nobody is drawn to terribly much depth. They're archetypes and symbols more than fully formed people, yet they manage to jump off the page and seem vividly real. The plot kept my interest and hummed along nicely. It's a quick, not terribly profound read, but comes off to a quite satisfying conclusion. Well worth picking up.



View all my reviews

Civil War Photo Friday: Civil War Body Armor

This photo, courtesy the Pitt-Rivers Museum, shows some personal armor used in the Civil War. While never officially issued by either army, a fair number of these bulletproof vests were sold by private companies to troops in the North and the South.

It was common for soldiers to supplement their equipment with privately purchased items. Vests were made of two or more steel plates and weighed up to 12 pounds. They cost $5 or $7 depending on the quality. Considering that a private in the Union army made $13 a month, this was a significant investment.

Did they work? There are a couple of accounts of them working, but they may have been stories made up by advertisers. Much of the equipment sold to the troops was of low quality and there's no reason to believe the "bulletproof" vests were any exception. On the other hand, Civil War bullets were made of soft lead and had a low velocity. The probably could be deflected by even a relatively thin piece of steel. As far as I know, none have ever been scientifically tested.

The vests were snapped up by soldiers in the early months of the war but soon declined in popularity. They were expensive, not always reliable, and the extra weight on long marches proved tiresome. The same situation happened during World War One. Soldiers ended up having to rely on luck and pluck to survive battle.

Guest blogging about Byzantine magic over at Black Gate

I've written a guest post for the Black Gate blog on Byzantine and Early Modern Greek Magic. It features some of the photos I took at the Byzantine Museum in Athens during my trip to Greece earlier this year along with some background information.

Black Gate will be publishing my historical fantasy novella, The Quintessence of Absence, in their next issue. I also plan on doing more blog posts for them. Stay tuned!