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pound; French gloves, $150 per pair; and black pepper, $300 per pound. Dried sage, raspberry, and other
leaves were substituted for the costly tea. Woolen clothing was scarce and the army depended largely on
captures of the ample Federal stores. Pins were so rare that they were picked up with avidity in the streets.
Paper was so expensive that matches could no longer be put in boxes. Sugar, butter, and white bread became
luxuries even for the wealthy. Salt being a necessity, was economized to the last degree, old pork and fish
barrels being soaked and the water evaporated so that not a grain of salt might be wasted. Women appeared in
garments that were made of cloth carded, woven, spun, and dyed by their own hands. Large thorns were fitted
with wax heads and made to serve as hair-pins. Shoes were manufactured with wooden soles to which the
uppers were attached by means of small tacks. As a substitute for the expensive gas, the Confederate candle
was used. This consisted of a long wick coated with wax and resin, and wound on a little wooden frame, at
the top of which was nailed a bit of tin. The end of the wick being passed through a hole in the tin, was
lighted and uncoiled as needed.]
Led by the enormous profits of a successful voyage, foreign merchants were constantly seeking to run the
gauntlet. Their swift steamers, making no smoke, long, narrow, low, and of a mud color, occasionally
escaped the vigilance of the Federal squadron. During the war, it is said, over fifteen hundred blockade
runners were taken or destroyed. With the capture of Fort Fisher, the last Confederate port of entry was
sealed.
THE WAR ON THE SEA AND ON THE COAST. 141
A Brief History of the United States
[Illustration: THE ALABAMA]
CONFEDERATE CRUISERS had now practically driven the American commerce from the ocean. They
were not privateers, like those named on p. 222, for they were built in England and manned by British sailors,
and were only officered and commissioned by the Confederate government. They sailed to and fro upon the
track of American ships, plundering and burning, or else bonding them for heavy sums. The Alabama was the
most noted of these British steamers. Against the urgent remonstrances of the United States Minister at the
Court of England, she was allowed to sail although her mission was well known. An English captain took her
to the Azores, where other English vessels brought her arms, ammunition, and the Confederate Captain
Semmes with additional men. Putting out to sea, he read his commission and announced his purpose. After
capturing over sixty vessels, he sailed to Cherbourg, France. While there, he sent out a challenge to the
national ship-of-war Kearsarge (keer'-sarj). This was accepted, and a battle took place off that harbor.
Captain Winslow, of the Kearsarge, so manoeuvred that the Alabama was compelled to move round in a
circular track, while he trained his guns upon her with fearful effect. On the seventh rotation, the Confederate
vessel ran up the white flag and soon after sank. Captain Winslow rescued a part of the sinking crew, and
others were picked up, at his request, by the Deerhound, an English yacht; but this vessel steamed off to the
British coast with those she had saved, among whom was Captain Semmes.
THE SANITARY AND CHRISTIAN COMMISSIONS were splendid examples of organized mercy,
furnished by the people of the North. They devised and provided every possible comfort for the sick and
wounded, besides distributing religious reading to every soldier in the field. Ambulances, stretchers, hot
coffee, postage-stamps, paper and envelopes, prayer-meetings, medicines, Christian burial no want of
body or soul was overlooked. Homes and Lodges for men on sick leave; for those not yet under or just
out of the care of the government, or who had been left by their regiments, were instituted. Feeding
Stations for the tired and hungry were established, and even Homes for the Wives, Mothers, and Children
of Soldiers who had come to visit their sick or wounded. On every flag-of-truce boat were placed clothing,
medicines, and cordials for the prisoners who had been exchanged. With boundless mercy, they cared for all
while living, and gave Christian burial and marked graves to the dead. Over seventeen millions of dollars in
money and supplies were expended by these two Commissions.
POLITICAL AFFAIRS. At the North, there was much dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war. The debt
had become about $2,000,000, 000. In July of this year, paper money reached its greatest depreciation, and it
required two dollars and ninety cents in greenbacks to buy one dollar in gold. It was at the time of Grant's
repulse from Cold Harbor and of Early's raid. Yet, in the midst of these discouragements, Abraham Lincoln
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