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IILet Commerce Follow the Flag": Trade and loyalty to the Union in the Ohio Valley Clinton W. Terry The Board of Officers of the Cincinnati Chamber of Cml1merce and Merchants' Exchange met on July 22, I86I, to consider whether it should expel general merchandise agent, John A. Skiff, a Chamber member who had run afoul of preliminary regulations on the southern trade imposed in April by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. The charge was treason: the offense, sending butter to Mississippi. No one disputed the facts of the case. John Pollack, the Deputy Surveyor of Customs for Cincinnati, had arrested Skiff on May 14, I86I, for attempting to ship contraband goods into rebel-controlled territory in violation of the regulations requiring special permits to trade with the enemy.I The em.bargo against trade with the southern states included most foodstuffs and any other goods that the rebel army might possibly use to wage war against the Union. The regulations required a special permit to trade all other items with the rebels. Without some compelling reason, the Customs Service would not authorize such trade. Secession and war interrupted what should have been a period of growing prosperity for Skiff. Prior to the secession crisis he enjoyed a well-established if not quite lucrative trade with the merchants of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Through his contacts there, he accepted orders for a variety of con1.modities, procured the goods in Cincinnati, and shipped the merchandise by steamboat to Vicksburg, adding his commission to the bill. He had managed to accumulate some assets in the I850s, and he had survived the panic of I857, though not without difficulty. I-lis business had generally improved with the national economy through I859 and I860, and he looked forward to expanding his operations. Yet the early months of I86I had been trying. A substantial investment in a brewery had yet to payoff, and some losses in the southern trade had left him strapped for cash.2 2 Hoping to continue his Vicksburg trade and possibly collect balances still due him, Skiff applied for permits to ship butter to his southern customers. Deputy Surveyor Pollack, however, rejected several applications in quick succession. Regulations were quite clear on the matter. As a foodstuff, butter could feed the rebel army, and therefore could not be shipped into the states in rebellion, no matter how well-established Skiff's trade had been. Thoroughly frustrated by the rejections, Skiff became furious with the Deputy Surveyor and sought a way to circumvent the rules. He inquired whether or not ale could be shipped south. Pollack responded affirmatively, saying that beer and ale were exempt from the embargo. Regula'tions considered neither to be a foodstuff, and unlike liquor and whiskey, they were not strong enough to be used as medicines. Beer and ale passed the military use test.3 With that affirmation , on May 14, Skiff delivered five barrels labeled ale to a Madison, Indiana, packet, consigning the cargo to Carrollton, Kentucky, a short distance downstream from Cincinnati. But he also issued verbal instructions to the crew to divert the shipment en route to Louisville, Kentucky, for transshipment further south. Pollack, by now suspicious of Skiff's activities , intercepted the consignment before the packet left Cincinnati and found the barrels to contain "firkins of butter." Before Pollack concluded his investigation, Skiff arrived with five more barrels similarly marked and consigned, all containing butter instead of ale. Pollack confronted Skiff who angrily confessed, saying he had done "no worse than others ," and that his only crime had been voting for John Bell.4 Pollack took Skiff into custody. After a week in jail Skiff managed to raise the $5,000 bail. Released on May 22, he remained free to conduct business pending triaLs In his angry confession, Skiff had come to the / Ohio Valley History 'IAI ' "':,' ! " , ; ~ f • J ! ~ ~. \ .~ : , . , i , i ~ , .l, i I , 1 ~ I J Cincinnati Public Landing, ca. 1850 (from CHS collection) I very heart of the matter. He had indeed done "no worse than others," but his support of the Constitutional Union ticket in r860 placed him outside the political mainstream of Cincinnati politics. Without strong backing from either...

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