Cotton and Race in the Making of America by Gene Dattel
Author:Gene Dattel [Dattel, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
Published: 2011-06-12T16:00:00+00:00
chapter fifteen
Cotton Trading in the United States
the frenzy of cotton trading during the Civil War strongly reaffirmed the attraction and force of King Cotton. Such a valuable commodity was of major interest to the North, just as it was to the British. Profit, as we have seen, knows no geographical boundaries. Even one’s enemy in war can look like a brother in trade. As the pent-up demand for cotton drove prices higher, opportunities for profit and corruption on both Union and Confederate sides abounded.
Northern regulations for dealing with cotton appeared by necessity. Early in the war the Treasury Department was given authority to regulate the cotton trade and specifically to forbid trading with the South. An act of May 20, 1862, for example, prohibited officers of the Union army and navy from engaging in the “sale or purchase of cotton or any other merchandise.” But, as we shall see, this prohibition was violated by Union soldiers with impunity. Treasury Secretary Chase described the interest in cotton as “vast and complicated” and noted that “the appetite for trade is eager and exacting.” He was empowered to appoint special agents to purchase and sell cotton, but profits proved too tempting for these officials to function honestly. The problem of the cotton agents was compounded by Chase’s poor judgment in making appointments. Henry Halleck, Lincoln’s chief of staff, implored General Grant to “See that all possible facilities are afforded for getting out cotton. It is deemed important to get as much as we can into market.” On August 2, 1862, Halleck approved the use of gold as payment for cotton.
Beginning in 1862 with the Union capture of important Confederate port cities, the illicit internal cotton trade mushroomed. New Orleans fell in May 1862, Memphis in June, and Vicksburg in July 1863. The federal government needed cotton for its own use and desperately wished to prevent Confederate cotton from being shipped to Britain. There ensued a muddled policy as corrupt Northern licensees traded “salt, bacon, powder, firearms, percussion caps, etc.” to Southerners for cotton. The supplies found their way to the Confederate army, much to the consternation of Generals Grant and Sherman. In August 1862 communications among Halleck, Chase, Grant, and Sherman were filled with complaints about the important aid being given to the Confederacy in the cotton-for-goods trading. Cotton, the “bait,” was traded for gold, which in turn purchased the “salt, powder, and lead” in St. Louis and Cincinnati that ended up with the Confederate army. On October 9, 1862, Sherman wrote to Grant that “The great profit [from the cotton-for-goods] trade . . . is converting everybody into rascals and it makes me ashamed of my countrymen.” On June 15, 1864, Sherman was still stewing over the illicit trade: “I never knew a cotton dealer, male or female, but what would falsify.” General N. J. T. Dana, stationed in Natchez, complained in July 1864 that “the enemy have been freely supplied through our lines on the Mississippi River.” Such a lucrative trade could not be regulated or contained.
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