Reply #29: At the time of the Civil War, it was common on both sides to issue only paper money, as low as 3Cent

[happyslug]

For more on Fractional Currency, i.e. three cent, five Cents, ten cents, 25 cents and even 50 cent notes see:

http://www.journalofantiques.com/June04/coinsjune04.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_currency

What I liked was why such fractional currency was adopted, when the Civil War Started people horded gold and silver coins, including the unpopular three cent coins (And many people even horded copper one cent coins). At first people used stamps as a substitute for the missing coins, when the Post Office started to refuse to redeem damaged stamps, the treasury found out it had to issue paper money down to three cent notes. The first issue clearly state such notes were only convertible to stamps, but the second issue ended that and made such notes cash-able by the US Treasury. This continued till well after the end of the Civil War. The Copper cent continued to be minted during the war, and then the Three cent Nickel in 1865 and then the five cent Nickel starting in 1866 (The Nickel replaced the silver "1/2 dime").

http://books.google.com/books?id=2AaJra9gtSUC&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=%22postal+currency%22&source=web&ots=PmboT9ERAV&sig=_LzXnNVHO5GnoG_L-VC2W-D0X3g#v=onepage&q=%22postal%20currency%22&f=false

For more on the five cent nickel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_%28United_States_coin%29

Until 1869, the fractional currency were being printed and remained in circulation till the early 1870s, but as the supply of silver increased do to the Comstock Mine in Nevada (and the access to that Silver via the Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869) Silver coins again start to circulate and the fractional Currency was withdrawn from circulation. Thus Fractional Currency has a very short life, but it is part of US history of money.