Within a few months of the outbreak of the Civil War, the federal government found itself with $2 million in the treasury, and expenses totaling more than $300 million. By 1862, yearly war expenses were estimated at $500 million. The government tried a number of solutions to the worsening financial crisis. It borrowed heavily from banks in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. It printed its own greenbacks and raised taxes. And it issued bonds, dispatching a small army of agents to persuade ordinary Americans to part with their cash and support the war effort.