1 Dollar Citizens' Bank of Louisiana

The Citizens' Bank of Louisiana was unusual among antebellum Southern banks in that it was chartered specifically to finance sugar and cotton plantations, with planters pledging their land — and enslaved people — as collateral for mortgage bonds sold on the Paris and London capital markets. The bank's notes circulated in this peculiar credit structure for over two decades before the suspension of specie payments in the 1850s eroded confidence in Louisiana paper generally.

The American Bank Note Company printed this series in New York, a routine arrangement for well-capitalized Southern institutions that wanted engraving quality beyond what local shops could supply.