most expensive civil war token. An iconic Civil War tokenwith an amazing error! 5 What were the deadliest three battles of the Civil War? Error message here! Civil War tokens became illegal after the United States Congress passed a law on April 22, 1864, prohibiting the issue of any one or two-cent coins, tokens or devices for use as currency. As coins started to disappear in the camps, Sutlers began minting tokens, which they used to fill the gap created by coin shortages. The Civil War caused severe shortages of coins of all denominations. MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM. These tokens also carry a rarity factor. Nearly as many men died in captivity during the Civil War as were killed in the whole of the Vietnam War. Sutlers were the merchants that camped with the soldiers of the Union Army. With this realization came an amazing innovation-the. This auction has 731 tokens in it! // -->