Did you know…?
There was once a 5-cent bill.
In April 1861, just two months after the provisional government was established, the Confederacy started printing their own currency. More than $1.7 billion was produced, in almost every denomination imaginable, and in literally thousands of designs—at one point there were 140 different types of $10 notes alone.
Though it was accepted throughout the South, currency was printed by each state—and even each bank; and since metal was scarce, only paper money was printed. This led to the introduction of “fractionals”—bank notes in denominations less than one dollar. While a member of the Confederacy, North Carolina minted the smallest denomination of any state—a five cent bill. Like most of the currency of the time, it was only printed on the front of the bill. And just as it was small in denomination, the five cent bill was small in physical size, measuring only about 3″ × 1 ½″.
Did you also know…?
- United States History
- If it weren’t for Navajo Indians, the United States would have lost the battle at Iwo Jima.
- Before 1883, there were 8,000 times zones in the United States.
- The first fatality of the Civil War was an accident.
- Many delegates did not sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4th.
- If Benjamin Franklin had his way, our national bird would be the turkey.
- The Liberty Bell was never rung on July 4, 1776.
- The correct folding of the American flag 13 times does not symbolize the 13 colonies.
- Scopes never committed the crime that led to the Scopes Monkey Trial.
- After the doomed Apollo 13 landed, Houston had another—hilarious—problem.
- The United States Constitution isn’t perfect—grammatically speaking.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” was improvised.
- The United States once included a state named Franklin.
- On August 4, 1922, every phone in North America went silent.
- “The Star-Spangled Banner” was originally a British drinking song.
- The shortest U.S. Presidential term was 1 day.
- The New York Stock Exchange began in a coffee shop.
- There was once a 5-cent bill.
- President Roosevelt’s safety during World War II was due to Al Capone.
- Puff the Magic Dragon was a war hero