Before long Upham was advertising what he called "mementos of the Rebellion" in the New York Tribune, Harpers Weekly and other papers. He also advertised himself willing to buy genuine Confederate notes and stamps, as samples he could later duplicate. By late 1862 Upham was selling 28 variations of Confederate bill denominations and postage stamps, with currency notes selling for 5 cents a piece.
The Congress of the Confederacy responded to the flood of counterfeit bills by imposing the death sentence on convicted counterfeiters. Upham would later brag the Confederacy put a $10,000 reward on his capture, dead or alive. He had done more to injure the Confederate cause than General McClellan and his army. Upham later clamed he had printed from March 12, 1862 to August 1, 1863, one million five hundred and sixty four thousand facsimile Rebel notes, of denominations ranging from 5 cents to 100 dollars. Some modern analyses estimate his fake Confederate money amounted to between .93% and 2.78% of the Confederacy's total money supply. Upham discontinued his facsimile business in late 1863 and returned to selling stationary and patriotic envelopes. His notes were still being used in the war-torn South by Union soldiers and other persons after he shut down his business. I was lucky enough to find and purchase one of his counterfeits. His bogus money is worth more than the real thing.
