10 Dollars Merchants and Planters Bank - Savannah

The Merchants and Planters Bank of Savannah was chartered by the Georgia legislature and operated during the final years before secession made Northern-printed banknotes a political liability for Southern institutions. This note dates to 1860, when the bank was still ordering plates from the American Bank Note Company in New York — a relationship that would become untenable within months. After Georgia seceded in January 1861, many Georgia banks scrambled to source printing from Southern firms, making pre-secession ABNCo issues like this one a narrow window in the bank's history.

Georgia state law required banks to maintain specie reserves, but suspension came quickly in 1861 regardless.