nitial Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama, though what was done with them there, and their ultimate fate, are unknown. The rarity of the 1861-D dollar, and the association with the Confederacy, make it especially prized. Dahlonega, like the other two branch mints in the South, closed its doors after the 1861 strikings. It and the Charlotte facility never reopened; the New Orleans Mint again struck coins from 1879 to 1909, but did not strike gold dollars again. After 1861, the only issuance of gold dollars outside Philadelphia was at San Francisco, in 1870. The outbreak of the Civil War shook public confidence in the Union, and citizens began hoarding specie, gold and silver coins. In late December 1861, banks and then the federal Treasury stopped paying out gold at face value. By mid-1862, all federal coins, even the base metal cent, had vanished from commerce in much of the country. The exception was the Far West, where for the most part, only gold and silver were acceptable currencies, and paper money traded at a discount. In the rest of the nation, gold and silver coins could be purchased from banks, exchange agents, and from the Treasury for a premium in the ne