Christopher Memminger

Christopher Memminger (born January 9, 1803, Nayhingen, Württemberg [Germany]—died March 7, 1888, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.) was the Confederate secretary of the treasury, generally held responsible for the collapse of his government’s credit during the American Civil War.

Soon after his father’s death while a soldier in Germany, Memminger immigrated to the United States and settled with his mother in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1819 Memminger graduated from South Carolina College, began to study law, and subsequently went on to become a successful attorney. By 1830 he was emerging as a prominent public figure, notable for his opposition to the nullification movement in South Carolina. Elected to the state legislature in 1836, he served as chairman of the finance committee and actively sought to force banks to maintain specie payments. During his legislative career, Memminger gained a reputation as a sound financier.

Although dissatisfied with the Compromise of 1850, Memminger opposed unilateral opposition by South Carolina. He sided with the conservatives in his state, but, following the John Brown raid in January 1860, he counselled joint defensive measures in the South against Northern antislavery agitation. After Abraham Lincoln’s election, he wholeheartedly backed secession and served in South Carolina’s secession convention.

Memminger helped draft the provisional constitution of the Confederate states and then accepted appointment by Pres. Jefferson Davis to become secretary of the treasury for the new Confederate government. He initially planned sparing use of treasury notes, but the financial obligations of the Confederacy dictated their massive issuance. By 1863 the currency had depreciated greatly, and, as the notes fell in value, more were printed to cover governmental expenditures. Military defeats and the effective Union blockade of Southern ports made the financial plight of the South desperate by early 1864. On June 15, 1864—following the collapse of Confederate credit—Memminger resigned.

He retired to Flat Rock, North Carolina, and lived there until after the Civil War was over. Then he returned to Charleston and, granted a presidential pardon, began to practice law once again. During the final two decades of his life, he was involved in chemical manufacturing and in assisting the public school system in Charleston.