The Civil War was quite unpleasant for many Americans but it was great for Wall Street.
Many of the era's foremost robber barons -- J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould -- dodged the draft by paying $300 to hire a substitute. This modest investment left them free to spend the war years getting rich instead of getting shot. Many on Wall Street, including Morgan, made a fortune speculating in gold, the price of which rose against the dollar with each defeat of the Union Army. Appalled, President Lincoln announced that he hoped every gold speculator "had his devilish head shot off."
Meanwhile, Morgan was financing a deal to buy 5,000 rifles from an Union Army arsenal in New York for $3.50 apiece, then sell them to the Union Army in Virginia for $22 each. The rifles were defective -- causing soldiers to shoot their thumbs off -- but a judge ruled the deal legal. Morgan earned a 25 percent commission, plus interest.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44476-2002Feb8.html]
Carl
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