revived the hope of an eventual recognition of the Confederacy
but did not restore buoyancy to the people of the South. The
Emancipation Proclamation, though scoffed at as a cry of
impotence, none the less increased the general sense of crisis.

Worst of all, because of its immediate effect upon the temper of
the time, food was very scarce and prices had risen to
indefensible heights. The army was short of shoes. In the
newspapers, as winter came on, were to be found touching
descriptions of Lee's soldiers standing barefoot in the snow. A
flippant comment of Benjamin's, that the shoes had probably been
traded for whiskey, did not tend to improve matters. Even though
short of supplies themselves, the people as a whole eagerly
subscribed to buy shoes for the army.

There was widespread and heartless speculation in the supplies.
Months previous the Courier had made this ominous editorial
remark: "Speculators and monopolists seem determined to force the
people everywhere to the full exercise of all the remedies
allowed by law." In August, 1862, the Governor of Florida wrote
to the Florida delegation at Richmond urging them to take steps
to meet the "nefarious smuggling" of speculators who charged
extortionate prices. In September, he wrote again begging for
legislation to compel millers, tanners, and saltmakers to offer
their products at reasonable rates. As these men were exempt from
military duty because their labor was held to be a public
service, feeling against them ran high. Governor Vance proposed a
state convention to regulate prices for North Carolina and by
proclamation forbade the export of provisions in order to prevent
the seeking of exorbitant prices in other markets. Davis wrote to