During the civil war, rising inflation in the north meant that

The general price drastically increases.

It meant that it limited supply of goods caused prices to rise. The worst affected was the south. They depended greatly on exports to Britain which could not happen due to the Union's Operation Anaconda, a full naval blockade of the south. They basically had to rely on blockade runners in order to get goods to Britain and receive supplies.

The answer would be advertising.