It was a short labor stoppage at the Richmond Post Office, where clerks had not had a raise since the war and its rampant inflation began. And our Richmond newspaper still sees a lot of pressure on prices. Even though August 22nd was a National Fast Day on which several ministers “were deservedly severe on extortioners, and money worshippers” and the Dispatch had noticed some people wearing home-made clothes, there still seemed to be a great deal of demand for fine foreign fabric and “Yankee notions”. A cab driver was getting $8 for a four block trip.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 24, 1863:
to be delivered in Richmond
Local Matters.
Work resumed at the City Post-office.
–The difficulty at the City Post-Office has been satisfactorily adjusted, and yesterday the clerks resumed their positions and commenced the distribution of the mails, which have accumulated since Thursday last.–The office will be re-opened this morning and the mails be delivered as usual. …
Home Manufactures
are far more becoming Southern ladies and men in these war times than the Yankee gew-gaws which decorate the former and the costly trash worn by the latter. We have seen within the past few days several ladies dressed in domestic goods, including bonnets and shoes, which the wearers had made themselves. Though not so fine of texture as similar articles worn before the war, they were far more becoming to the wearers than silks would have been, and showed a spirit of patriotic independence which deserves emulation. Ladies can do a great deal towards making the South independent, and they should do it. …
Extravagance.
–A merchant, who has been doing a large business during the war, gives it as his opinion that the ladies are more extravagant in their dressing now than at any former time within his experience. Regardless of cost, they buy the finest foreign fabrics to be had, often paying as much as four or five hundred dollars for a single dress. As long as this recklessness is persisted in, we may expect nothing but a redundancy of currency, poverty, and misery.
Friday
was generally observed throughout this city as a day of humiliation and prayer. At an early hour of the morning all the business houses were closed. The various churches were opened for divine service, and the people generally attended worship.–Some of the ministers were deservedly severe on extortioners, and money worshippers, to which their congregations said, Amen! …
Daniel Ruggles
Resigned.
–Brig. Gen. Roger A. Pryor has resigned his commission, and gone into the 13th Virginia cavalry as a private.
Blockaders continue to work by the pickets of both armies and effect an entrance into this city, where they sell their trinkets and Yankee notions at fabulous prices. Until the traffic in Yankee notions can be broken up, we may expect to have spies in the South.
Extortion of hackmen.
–The extortion of hackmen in this city is becoming insufferable. We yesterday evening saw a case in which a driver charged a gentleman $8 for driving him and one or two ladies four squares from a depot.
The ten cent blue Jefferson Davis stamp (playing Caesar?) was issued in 1863. The addressee on the envelope, General Daniel Ruggles, performed mostly administrative duties for the CSA from the latter part of 1862.
Julius Caesar coin with Venus
The image of the Roman coin from 44 B.C. is licensed by Creative Commons
