FEDERAL TRADE WITH THE CONFEDERATE STATES, 1861-1865, A STUDY OF GOVERNMENTAL POLICY

497 Pages·024.494 MB·English

by  FUTRELL, ROBERT FRANK

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Federal trade with the Confederate States, 1861-1865: A study of governmental
policy
Futrell, Robert Frank, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University, 1950
U M I
300 N. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
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FEDERAL TRADE WITH THE CONFEDERATE STATES, 1861-1865
A STUDY OP GOVERNMENTAL POLICY
By
Robert Prank F u tre ll
\\
A D issertatio n
Submitted to the Faculty of the C-raduate School of
V anderbilt U niversity in p a rtia l fu lfillm e n t of
the requirem ents for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Approved by: Date:
TT)^ J2. Oj / <3
____________________
_________ £6. / 9 iTO
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION............................ .......................................................................... i i i
CHAPTER
I. SECRETARY CHASE SEEKS A TRADE POLICY,
MARCH-AUGUST, 1361.............................................................. 1
II. TRADE PROBLEMS ’.VITH THE ARMIES IN TEE
WEST, 1361-1362 ..................................................................... 33
II I . COMMERCE FOLLOWS THE FLAG TO VICKSBURG,
1362-1363 ..................................................................................... 73
IV. COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OP THE FEDERAL COASTAL
INVASIONS, 1361-1363.......................................................... llf3
V. LOUISIANA, 1362-1863 ............................................................ 194
i
VI. THE TREASURY INSTITUTES A COMPREHENSIVE
TRADE POLICY,1 363-1864.................................................... 225
VII. COMMERCE IN THE FIRST SPECIAL AGENCY,
1863-1364..................................................................................... 2^6
V III. COMMERCE IN THE OTHER SPECIAL AGENCIES.
1363-136k .................................................................................... 3 2k
IX. TRADE UNDER THE PURCHASING AGENT ACT,
1364-1365 .................................................................................... 372
X. LINCOLN OPENS THE FLOOD-GATES, 1864-1865 . • 4l5
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 455
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................... 1)66
ii
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INTRODUCTION
In A pril, 1361, as the smoke of b a ttle clearing at
Sumter revealed the newly born Confederate S tates of America,
no fact seemed harder for many persons both north and south
to apprehend than th a t the old free trade area of the United
States had been sh attered . Whatever legalism s might be
posed by the ju ris ts , two countries occupied the te r r ito r y
formerly held w ithin one fed eral union. During the four
years of b itte r w arfare which would follow , ex istin g trade
channels would be d islo cated , old markets would be in te r­
dicted, and the complementary economic lif e of the old
nation--a creation of ninety years of peaceful growth--
would be com pletely disrupted.
To the merchants of St. Louis, L o u isv ille, and Cin­
cinnati, as w ell as to the farm ers in the h interlands of
these th riv in g M ississippi V alley c itie s , the fact th at
the M ississippi no longer flowed untrammelled to its
mouth seemed of p a rtic u la r importance. The Ohio and
M ississippi waterways had tra d itio n a lly furnished the avenue
of the west to market. During the years p rio r to I860 these
citie s had engaged in heated riv a lry for the southern
i i i
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markets, and th e ir economic liv elih o o d s t i l l depended
upon the interchange of th e ir produce fo r southern prod­
ucts plus gold w ith which the cotton p lan ters made up
an unfavorable balance of tra d e . Southern p la n te rs,
finding th e ir g re a te st p ro fit in stap le economy, had come
to rely upon the meat and grain of the upper M ississippi
Valley fo r th e ir provender.
During the decade p rio r to the war, St. Louis had be­
come dominant in the riv e r tr a f f ic . In 1853 she had
reg istered 45,441 tons of the riv e r steam ers, as against
10,191 tons fo r C incinnati and 14,166 tons for L o u isv ille.
In 1855 there were 444 wholesale houses in the c ity , gros­
sing $87,033,679 th a t year, and her merchants never tire d
of repeating th at the trade of the e n tire M ississippi
Valley pivoted around S t. Louis. Skeptical of the value
of ra ilro a d s , her merchant's had fixed the steamboat on
the g reat seal of the c ity and always referred to the
M ississippi and i t s trib u ta rie s as th e ir n atural routes
of tran sp o rtatio n .^- A w riter In 1836 had considered i t
remarkable th at "the population of L ouisville depends
almost e n tire ly upon her commerce," and w ith the completion
of the L ouisville & N ashville Railway in 1859 i t seemed
1. Wyatt W. B elcher, The Economic Rivalry Between St.
Louis and Chicago 1850-l880~lNew York, 1947), 43, 48, 54.
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