Slaves in Virginia could be hired for $30 a month in 1863, yet the pay of an Army private was $11 per month. Confederate pay rose to $18 per month in 1864.
Union privates drew on $16, but the gold value of their pay was more than seven times greater than that of Confederates.
From 1861 - 1865 it cost the United States Government approximately 2 million dollars a day to prosecute the war; WWII cost more than 114 million dollars a day.
In 1880 the Secretary of the Treasury reported that the Civil War had cost the Federal Government 6.19 billion dollars. By 1910 the cost of the war, including pensions and other veterans benefits, had reached 11.5 billion dollars. WWII was three months shorter than the Civil War, but from 1942 - 1945 approximately 156 billion dollars was spent on the military establishment.
The total cost of the Civil War for the South has been estimated at 4 billion dollars.
The public debt outstanding for an average population of 33 million rose from $2.80 to $75 per capita between 1861 and 1865. In mid-1958 the per capita debt stood at $,1493 for a population of 175.5 million.
The pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis at Irwinville, GA cost the Feceral Government $97,031.62.
