The NEW BERN
UU L
PUBLISHfD WEEKLY
M HEART OP
TERN NORTH
CAROLINA
Per Copy
VOLUME 3 .
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1961
NUMBER 45
4-1"
'V-
V-
t:'
New Bernians, bel far back aa
they can remember, have been
hearing wisecracks advising them
to “Save ydiir Confederate money,
the South will rise again!” Few
jokes have been as durable, espe
daily among Yankee humorists ap
pearing before Yankee audiences.
Perhaps^ it’s poetic justice that,
in truth,* Confederate bills are
steadily increasing in value, while
the United States dollar declines.
If you happen to have, any stored
away in an attic trunk, don’t let a
fast-talkingi carpet bagger of the
modern variety talk you out of
your treasure.
When first issued, a Confederate
‘^lue Back” was worth 95 cents on
.the dollar in gold, but by the time
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at
Appomattox, the valuation had col
lapsed to 1.6 cents. Less than a
month later, when the last active
trading for Confederate currency
occurred, it possible to get 1,200
“Blue Backs” for one U. S. “‘Green
back.”
Today, we are told. Confederate
bills can be purchased in limited
amounts at prices ranging from 50
cents to one dollar, but the market
is rising as the Civil War Centen
nial moves along toward its nation
wide observance, ^ready some of
the rarer bills are selling for sev
eral hundred dollars apiece, and
you might just happen to have one
or several of this sort stuck away
somewhere.
It’inay surprise you, as it did
us, to learn that the Confederate
government issued more than
'^.000^000 worth of paper money
during the Ww Between the States
arid almost all of it was printed in
small derioininations. 'The first note
was, turrit out iri 1861, and print
ings .were contiriued until 1865.
..In fact, the bills were issued
so rapidly and in such large mun-
bers that a paper shortage result
ed. In those days, there was no
manufacturing oi paper from wood
pulp. It all came from linen and
cotton rags, and quite a bit of the
paper that went into tlie Confed
erate bills was smuggled from Eng
land and even some of the North
ern states. There were presses lo
cated in several spots below the
Mason-Dixon line, but the principal
onps were at Richmond, Va., and
Columbia, S. C.
It is interesting to note that the
first Confederate money issued at
Montgomery, Ala., in 1861, was en
graved and printed in New York
City by the National Bank Note
company. 'There were a lot of
i Southern sympathizers in Yankee-
land, an dthey hOlped the cause
along.1
Unlike the United States dollar,
as we know it today, a Confederate
bill was intended to be interest
bearing. If you happen to have a
. Confederate note, it probably bears
an inscription promising that it
.. will be redeemed six months- of
two years “after the ratification of
a treaty of peace between the
Confederate States and the United
, States of America.” Such a treaty
of peace was never signed.
' The bills carried a wide variety
of illustration. Yours may have
pictured Confederate Pre^sident
Jefferson Davis, Vice-President
Alexander H. Stephens, or a couple
of cabinet members, Judah P: Ben
jamin and R. M.. T. Hunter. And
, it’s also possible that the engi-av-
ing features a likeness of George
Washington, Andrew Jackson, John
C. Calhoun, Ceres (goddess of vege
tation), some other mythological
character, or a cotton field.
Following the War Between the
States, there were thousands of
Confederate “Blue Backs” scatter
ed in homes and businesses around
. New Bern. How many remain in
existence is -anybody’s guess. Be
cause' they were plentiful, and
worthless, many of them were dis-
r - - - vx x-yx wv • • • v -..
NEW HOtJSE OP WORSHlp4-Helured liere is^tb0 0?fna
Garber Education Building, first unit of the Garber Meth
odist Church that is being erected'in Trent Woods on the
Country Club Rbad-^The church has( been named in honor
of Bishop Paul N. GarSer, and the Education Building is
a memorial to his wife, who diedi some time ago.—^Photo
by Wray Studio.
Sunday Will Bring Opening
Of Garber Methodist Church
New Bern, long known as a city
of lovely churches, will see an
other spiritual milestone reached
Sunday morning, when opening
services are held in the Orina Kidd
Garber education building of Gar
ber Methodist church, in Trent
Woods on the Country Club road.
First unit of an attractive' edifice
to be erected at a cost of $250,000,
the structure already completed,
along with the land purchased, in
volved an outlay of $70,000. It was
beautifully designed by two local
architects, Robert U. Stephens and
Aldo Cardelli.
Among the distinguished Meth
odists who will be here for the oc
casion are Bishop Paul N. Garber
and Governqr Terry Sanford. The
edifice is named for Bishop Gar
ber, in recognition of an extension
program he has promoted in North
Carolina that brought ipto being
72 new churches in seven years.
Governor Sanford comes to New
carded during the bitter Recon
struction days, and others were
simply misplaced and lost with the
passing of the years.
If there’s a moral to this, it’s the
inevitable fact that almost every
thing becomes valuable when kept
long enough to become a scarce
item. For example, countless old
letters have been thrown away
here that carried stamps and post
marks considered'priceless today.
Maybe you didn’t toss them in the
trash during a housecleaning ses
sion, but if you didn’t, your-parents
or grandparents did.
Take a fool’s advice, and hang
onto that Confederate money.
Bern in this instance not as the
State’s Chief Executive but as a
Methodist lay leader yrhose religi
ous efforts are well known in his
home town of Fayetteville. Others
who will be on hand are the Rev.
REV. LEWIS DILLMAN
Pastor at Garber.
—^Photo by Wray Studio.
O. L. Hathaway, who heads the
Mission Board of the North Caro
lina Conference, and Dr. A. J.
Hobbs, who is superintendent of
the New Bern district.
Erected as a memorial to Bishop
Garber’s wife, who didn’t live to
see the church that is to be dedicat
ed to her husband built, the educa
tion building now completed is to
be used as the sanctuary until the
church is completed. It seats 200,
has six Sunday school rooms, a pas
tor’s study and a kitchen. The
church edifice itself will seat 350,
when built.
The present unit has central
heating and is air-conditioned. It
is ideally situated on three acres
of land. The first organizational
service for the proposed church
was held on November 8, 1959, aft
er a pastor had been assigned by
the North Carolina Conference
when it met at Wilmington in
June. The assigned pastor, Lewis
Dillman^ who had served at Tren
ton and, was held in high regard
there, began holding services in
private homes in August.
Later, through the courtesy of
Pollock Funeral Home here, serv
ices were held in the firm’s chap
el, and on June 12, 1960, the
ground breaking for the church
was held. There are now 66 mem
bers of the church, and 60 enrolled
in the church school.
Named on the board of trustees,
and also serving as the building
committee, were Robert M. Boyd as
chairman. Dr. Charles T. Barker,
and Ralph T. Morris. They wer#
ably assisted in pushing the build*
(Cotitinutd «n Back Pago)