1861-1864 USA D.L. Wing & Co. Union Flour Civil War Token, Albany, NY

1861-1864 USA D.L. Wing & Co. Union Flour Civil War Token, Albany, NY

In 1861, the American Civil War began. The conflict saw the young country split in half along North-South lines, with Union and Confederate armies fighting a series of devastating battles over the abolition of African American slavery. The war nearly obliterated the entire American South, but millions of enslaved people were freed. To this day, the Civil War is one of the most extensively studied and thoroughly documented episodes in American history.

Civil War tokens were privately minted between 1861 and 1864, at the height of the Civil War. They appeared because one-cent coins had become scarce, and generally feature patriotic designs or advertisements. Civil War tokens were also used by sutlers -- civilian merchants who sell provisions to armies.