There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, and
Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of Southern
merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again. Long before
1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through the blockade. That
there was a great need of supplies from the outside world is shown by the
following statement of General Boynton:

"Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in the
cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for four
years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers have tin
handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and in very few families is
there enough to set a table .... A set of forks with whole tines is a
curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all stopped . . . . Hairbrushes and
toothbrushes have all worn out; combs are broken . . . . Pins, needles, and
thread, and a thousand such articles, which seem indispensable to
housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in weaving on the looms, corncobs have
been substituted for spindles. Few have pocketknives. In fact, everything that
has heretofore been an article of sale in the South is wanting now. At the
tables of those who were once esteemed luxurious providers you will find
neither tea, coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some
cases, have been replaced by a cup of grease in which a piece of cloth is
plunged for a wick."

This poverty was prolonged and rendered more acute by the lack of
transportation. Horses, mules, wagons, and carriages were scarce, the country
roads were nearly impassable, and bridges were in bad repair or had been
burned or washed away. Steamboats had almost disappeared from the rivers.
Those which had escaped capture as blockade runners had been subsequently
destroyed or were worn out.. Postal facilities, which had been poor enough
during the last year of the Confederacy, were entirely lacking for several