Greenback, Tennessee
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Green shirt
Greenbacks were emergency paper currency issued by the United States during the American Civil War that were printed in green on the back.[1] They were in two forms: Demand Notes, issued in 1861–1862,[1] and United States Notes, issued in 1862–1865.[2] A form of fiat money, the notes were legal tender for most purposes and carried varying promises of eventual payment in coin but were not backed by existing gold or silver reserves.[3]
Background
Before the Civil War, the United States used gold and silver coins as its official currency. Paper currency in the form of banknotes was issued by privately owned banks, the notes being redeemable for specie at the bank's office. Such notes had value only if the bank could be counted on to redeem them; if a bank failed, its notes became worthless. The federal government sometimes issued Treasury Notes to borrow money during periods of economic distress, but proposals for a federal paper currency were politically contentious and recalled the experience of the Continental dollars issued during the American Revolution. These were nominally payable in silver, but rapidly depreciated due to British counterfeiting and the Continental Congress's difficulty in collecting money from the states.
The Buchanan administration had run chronic deficits as the country weathered the Panic of 1857. The southern secession movement worsened the situation, as the government lost substantial tax revenue.[4] It continued to operate during the presidential transition on private bank loans at rates up to 12 percent, with some banks asking as much as 36.[5] Salmon P. Chase, as the Treasury secretary of the incoming Lincoln administration, found the banks more receptive but struggled to keep enough coins in the Treasury to meet expenditures.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenback_(1860s_money)