Samuel C. (Samuel Curtis) Upham

Born in 1819, Samuel Curtis Upham was an American printer, bookseller, and writer based in Philadelphia. He worked in trade and publishing, and in 1849 joined the rush to California, traveling by sea around Cape Horn. He later wrote about that journey, leaving behind a firsthand account of the Gold Rush era.

Upham is most often remembered for what he did during the Civil War. Using newspaper illustrations of Confederate currency as models, he printed and sold facsimiles of Southern banknotes. What began as a curiosity and souvenir business became famous because the copies were reportedly passed into circulation in the Confederacy, making him one of the most unusual figures connected to wartime money.

He died in 1885. Today, his story stands out because it sits at the crossroads of printing, entrepreneurship, travel writing, and Civil War history.