What price should Virginia farmers charge the Confederate army for their produce? An editorial from 150 years ago thought a low price was in the farmers’ self-interest.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 11, 1864:
The Farmers and the army.
The duty of supplying the army at liberal rates is one which it might be as well for the farmers of Virginia to consider from that fascinating point of view, their own interest. The question for them to decide is whether they will dispense liberally of their products to the defenders of their possessions, or whether they shall be overrun and laid waste, their estates destroyed, and their houses burned down over their heads by the advance of Meade’s army, which will follow the falling back of Lee, a calamity that the failure of the farmers to respond liberally to the calls of their country may render inevitable. If the farmers of Virginia prefer the condition of the people of Culpeper, Norfolk, and New Orleans, to their present state, they have only to keep fast their grip on their corn and wheat, and their desires can be gratified.
Of course, the government also taxed farmers (and others). One of the taxes on farmers and planters was a tax-in-kind . Those who owed taxes had to visit the tax collectors with their records. Farmers were warned to give their tax-in-kind only to authorized agents. From the same issue:
Confederate States taxes.
Notice to all persons liable to taxation by the Confederate Government in District No. 12 composed of that part of the city of Richmond lying west of 6th street–By authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, we hereby notify all persons liable to taxation — which embraces the great mass of the people of his District — that it is their duty to come forward and give in to us, the Assessors of this District a statement of their incomes, salaries, and all other subjects of taxation, that they may be assessed according to law; and to enable them to perform this duty, we hereby notify them that C. C. Ellett one of the assessors may be found at his residence on Leigh street, between 3d and 4th, at all times during the month of January, 1864; and William Forbes, the other assessor, will be at his office, at the corner of Main and 8th streets, from 9 o’clock A. M. to 3 o’clock P. M, of each day, and at his residence on Arch street, above 4th, after 3 o’clock P. M. of each day in the month of January, 1864, where they will respectively receive such statements and make such assessments.
C. C. Ellett,
Wm. Forbes,
Assessors for the 12th District of Virginia.
Richmond, Jan.1, 1864.
Notice to tax Payers
–State of Virginia–12th collection district C S war tax, composed of all that part of the city of Richmond which lies west of Sixth st.
All persons who have heretofore been registered, or who by law are required to register, are hereby notified to come forward within twenty days from this day and make their returns of gross sales for the quarter ending 31stDecember, 1863, inclusive, to Wm. Forbes or C. C. Ellett, the assessors for this district.
Any such person failing so to report within twenty days will be subject to a double tax. …
P. A. Woods, Collector
For 12th district of Va,
Richmond, Jan.1, 1864.
Ass’t Q’ m Gen’s office,
January2d, 1864.
Tax in Kind — Farmers and planters are notified that they must not deliver their tax in kind upon any other than receipts of Quartermasters and Commissaries serving with troops, and of officers and agents on tax duty, or of those who from this office are specially authorized to collect.
The receipts of sergeants, wagon masters, and teamsters are worthless, they have no authority, nor can any one give them authority, to receipt for tax in kind.
Larkin Smith,
Ass’t Quartermaster-General.
____________________________________________
Here’s how Edwin Forbes drew an “Old Va. farmer coming from mill. Rappahannock Station, Va.” from January 14, 1864:
