Civil War gold hoax

The Civil War Gold Hoax, also known as the Bogus Proclamation of 1864 was an 1864 unsuccessful financial hoax perpetrated during the American Civil War by American journalists Joseph Howard Jr. and Francis Mallison of the Brooklyn Eagle. Howard and Mallson hoped to exploit uncertainty about the ongoing war and trigger a sudden financial panic and profit from it. The conspirators bought gold on margin and then attempted to circulate a false proclamation from President Abraham Lincoln among New York newspapers, that called for a national day of prayer and the conscription of 400,000 additional men into the Union army. Howard and Mallison hoped that this proclamation would lead investors to believe that the Lincoln administration thought the war was going poorly, and cause them to abandon the Union greenback currency and instead buy gold, driving up its price. With the price of gold artificially inflated, the conspirators could sell high and make a considerable amount of money, before anyone realized the proclamation was a forgery.

Misunderstanding the hoax as an intelligence leak Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered two newspapers to be closed, and numerous reporters and telegraph personnel arrested. Military authorities in New York City quickly discovered the fraudulent nature of the proclamation and arrested both fraudsters within days of the attempted hoax. The reporters and telegraph personnel were soon released while Howard remained in jail until August, and Mallison until September. While they were imprisoned Lincoln released a similar proclamation to Howard and Mallison's fraudulent one, which called for 500,000 new volunteers for the Union army.^[1]