Uh, that would make that $1 worth quite a lot, indeed, then. It was the same during the 1930's depression; a nickel was hard to come by, but if you had one, it would buy a loaf of bread. There are different ways to measure the value of money, but is said that George Washington's salary of $25,000 would be about $619,000 today. This $2.50 would be $61.90 Cut that in half for 1860, when $1 = $18 in relative terms, but the real question is how much would a dollar buy? Would $1 then buy more than $18 today? If you look at the price of goods, the purchasing power of that dollar was really more like $1 then = $30 today, and so the answer has to be yes, without a doubt. As I said, $1 was worth something back then.
It was tongue in cheek MrChips.
I am no expert all I know is what I saw in the John Wayne movies.