Banks of Augusta - Augusta, GA

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: state
Start Date: October 17, 1857
Location: Augusta, Georgia (33.471, -81.975)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: c940ea33

Response Measures

None

Description

The Banks of Augusta suspended specie payments during the nationwide Panic of 1857 (articles dated Oct 17–19, 1857). By May 1858 one article explicitly says Augusta banks had resumed specie payments, so the episode is a suspension with later reopening. No article describes a depositor run specific to Augusta.

Events (2)

1. October 17, 1857 Suspension

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: Part of the widespread Panic of 1857; multiple cities' banks suspended and news of failures elsewhere led to suspension.
Newspaper Excerpt: AUGUSTA, Ga., Oct. 17.-The banks here suspended this morning.
Source: newspapers

2. May 13, 1858 Reopening

Newspaper Excerpt: the effect of resumption of specie payments, by the Banks of Augusta, while those of Charleston are still suspended: Augusta is a point which must exert a very great influence upon Charleston ... the resumption of specie payments, by the Banks of Augusta
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (3)

1. October 18, 1857 Nashville Union and American Nashville, TN

Article from Nashville Union and American, October 18, 1857

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

BY TELEGRAPH. CINCINNATI, Oct 17.-Chase is elected Governor by over 1000 majority. All the ticket except Blickensderfer run ahead of Chase. NEW YORK, Oct. 17.-Flour buoyant. Wheat, white 1.371, red 1.271 Corn firm. Pork quiet.Whiskey 21c. Sugar steady. Beef 12a14c. Lard 14}a15. Linseed Oil unchanged. PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 17-The notes of all solvent banks of Pennsylvania except the Anthracite and Farmer's are taken on deposit. CINCINNATI, Oct. 17-Flour $4,40a4,50; Corn 40c.; Oats 30c.: Whisky 13tc. The failure of Winslow Lanier & Co., unsettled the feeling in regard to Indiana funds. LOUISVILLE, Oct. 17.-The Jeffersonville branch of the Bank of the State of Indiana refused to pay specie for its bills. SYRACUSE, N. Y., Oct. 16.-The mail train was thrown off the track, West of here, last evening. The baggage, mail and four passenger cars were crushe1. All the mail bags except one are lost. Miss Brown, of Toronto, was drowned. Mr. Brownson, of New Britain, Conn., died of his injuries today. Twenty other passengers were wounded-six seriously. NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 16.-Corron.-Sales, 2500 bales at 91@91. Sales of the week 15,000 bales. Receipts 3,660 bales. Stock 113,230. Decrease in receipts 60,000 bales-decrease at all ports, 101,860 bales. Red Wheat $1.05. Corn 75c. Coffee 10c. Nothing done in exchange. No run on the banks to-day. Confidence is returning. No failures re ported. The suspended banks anticipate an early resumption. Affairs easier. PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 17 -The report that the Bank of Pennsylvania had made an assignment is positively contradicted by & director of that bank. NEW YORK, Oct. 17.-The steamer Asia has arrived with Liverpool dates of the 3d. She brings thirty thousand dollars in specie. She passed the Europa on the afternoon of the 3d, the Baltic on the morning of the 5th, and the Persia on the afternoon of the 7th. Her dates are anticipated by the Vanderbilt. ST. LOUIS, Oct. 17.-Nothing doing in Wheat, tobacco or hemp. Oats 35@40. White corn 65. AUGUSTA, Ga., Oct. 17.-The banks here suspended this morning. CINCINNATI, Oct. 17.-The returns from all the counties in. Each party claims the victory. At a meeting of the brokers this morning, they resolved to receive at par notes of all the New Orleans banks, and all bills bankable at N. York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Baltimore. This caused much improvement in the money market. NEW YORK, Oct. 17.-Winslow, Lanier & Co., have suspended and will go into liquidation. They show a large surplus.

2. October 19, 1857 The Day Book Norfolk, VA

Article from The Day Book, October 19, 1857

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

The News. The Steamer Asia arrived in New York on Saturday morning with Liverpool dates to the 3rd inst., which, however, had been anticipated by previous arrivals. Ten or twelve millions of acres of land were secured to the United States by a treaty lately concluded with the Pawnee Indians. A serious accident occurred on the Central Railroad, near Syracuse, N. Y., on Thursday evening. Particulars in another column. The Presidents of the Boston banks were to meet for further consultation on Saturday at 9 A. M. All the Banks of Lowell, (Mass.) suspended specie payments on Friday. It is supposed that the example of the Southern bank, of New Orleans, in paying specie for its own notes, but refusing it for deposites, will be followed by all the banks of that city. The excitement had subsided on Friday, and no further failures were reported. Election returns from sixty two counties in Ohio show a democratic gain of 10,561 votes. The vote is so close that it is thought only the official returns can determine the result. Both parties claim the State, but Chase (Repub.) is probably elected Governor by a small majority. From Kansas advices to the 13th inst., it appears that both parties claimed the victory in the late election there. All the banks of Augusta, (Georgia,) suspended on Friday morning. All the Savannah, (Ga.) banks suspended on the morning of Thursday. In New York, on Saturday, the market for Flour, Corn and Whiskey was firm; for Pork and Beef, heavy; for Wheat and Lard, quiet.

3. May 13, 1858 The Abbeville Banner Abbeville, SC

Article from The Abbeville Banner, May 13, 1858

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

THE EFFECT. A correspondent of the Savannah Republican thus alludes to the effect of resumption of specie payments, by the Banks of Augusta, while those of Charleston are still suspended: "Augusta is a point which must exert a very great influence upon Charleston, as the business of the former has usually flowed into her lap ; and though I regret, as a Georgian, to say it, there seems to be more good feeling existing between those two cities than between Savannah and Augusta. This positian must be changed now, at least until the Charleston banks resume. No one can fail to comprehend the plan the Augusta banks will follow. They certainly will not take bills on Charleston, because they will issue for them their own notes, redeemable in specie, and receive in Charleston, at maturity, current funds. Is it not plain, then, that Charleston will not receive her proportion of the cotton remaining in Augusta, and that she thereby lose more money than she will make respension! The result seems perfectly clear that Savanuah is to reap a harvest by the continued suspension of the Carolina banks, and I, for one, will rejoice to mee them continue in their present state till forced out of it by legislation."