According to a Richmond newspaper, “There is no wheat in market” because of the government’s “starvation plan of impressment”, or at least the way it was being implemented by “Beardless and senseless boys”. But who else was there?
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 6, 1863:
Financial and Commercial. …
Grain.–There is no wheat in market; but we have been informed that sales of small quantities have been made during the week at $10. With an open market a higher figure would no doubt be reached until a fair supply could be thrown in.–The injudicious and indiscriminate system of impressment pursued by the Government, through impressing agents who have no practical knowledge of the wants of the army or the necessities of the people, has made the supply of bread for those outside the army a question for serious consideration, and if not speedily remedied will make starvation a more than probable event. Within two weeks flour has jumped from $40 to $75 per barrel, and we have even heard of sales at $100.–Some are ready to attribute this unprecedented advance solely to speculation; but this is a mistake. The flour is not in the market, and people are beginning to learn that an actual scarcity of the staff of life stares them in the face. We do not mean an actual scarcity in the country, but a scarcity in the market, caused by the starvation plan of impressment of the Government. Beardless and senseless boys, who do not know how many bushels of wheat it requires to make a barrel of flour, are sent through the country with authority to impress supplies for the army, and, without knowing what is needed, they serve written notices upon the farmers that their whole crops are impressed, and that they must not send one bushel of grain to market. The farmer believes that the necessities of the Government require all that he has, feels that he is deprived of his interest in his grain, and it is left to sprout and spool in stacks or mould and mildew in granaries. This is one reason, and the chief one, too, why we have not flour in the Richmond market. What is true of wheat is also true of corn. The same system is pursued and the same starvation plan adhered to. Corn was yesterday selling at $14.50 per bushel, and scarce at that. …
Liquors.–Whiskey $40 to $50 per gallon, according to quality; Apple Brandy $34 to $36. …
Here’s a couple paragraphs from Encyclopedia Virginia’s article on Confederate Impressment that seem to go with the Dispatch piece:
Impressment merely exacerbated the disillusionment and discontent behind the lines. War Department clerk Robert Hill Garlick Kean noted the disastrous effect impressment was having on supplies in the Richmond markets: “Farmers … resent the Secretary [of War]’s schedule prices which are often 50% below the market or neighborhood price.” Kean went on to observe that “the instant impressment of flour, corn, and meat as soon as they are brought to any of the inland towns … is causing universal withholding of surplus … The Army will be starved and famine will ensue in the cities unless the Secretary changes his policy.”
The Richmond press also commented on the negative impact impressment policies were having on the Confederate cause. The acerbic editor of the Richmond Examiner wrote, “These arbitrary impressments of Government touch the people’s pride and sense of justice.” He concluded, “It behooves Congress to redress the present wrongful practice and establish a proper system of impressment without delay.” Despite such entreaties, the War Department did not change the policy. As a result, the Confederate government estimated that by March 1865 it had issued $500 million certificates of indebtedness and unpaid invoices.
