author
Samuel C. (Samuel Curtis) Upham
1819–1885
A restless 19th-century American entrepreneur, journalist, and memoirist, he is best remembered for turning Civil War curiosity into one of the era’s strangest publishing and counterfeiting stories. His life moved from gold-rush adventure writing to the notorious reproduction of Confederate notes in Philadelphia.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Vermont in 1819 and later based in Philadelphia, Samuel Curtis Upham lived several distinct lives. Sources describe him as a journalist, merchant, clerk, lyricist, and former naval serviceman, and his own California travel memoir grew out of his Gold Rush experiences after sailing around Cape Horn in 1849.
Upham is most often remembered for what he did during the American Civil War. Working as a stationer and publisher in Philadelphia, he began selling facsimiles of Confederate currency and eventually became famous—or infamous—for producing huge quantities of notes that were convincing enough to circulate in the South. That strange mix of showmanship, opportunism, and technical skill made him a lasting figure in Civil War folklore.
He died in Philadelphia in 1885. Today he tends to appear in histories of printing, publishing, and wartime deception: not as a major political leader or literary celebrity, but as an energetic and unusual character whose life keeps drawing readers back.