4. In 1859 Rockefeller entered into his first business partnership
After three years as an apprentice Rockefeller and business partner Maurice Clark started their own produce selling business, buying and selling from farmers on a commission basis. Rockefeller lacked sufficient cash to buy half the business, needing $2,000 for the deal and having been able to save only $800 during his apprenticeship. The rest came in the form of a loan from his father, at a rate of interest of 10%. The start of the business was timely, when the Civil War erupted in 1861 Rockefeller and Clark joined in the rush of contractors sending their products to the Union Army. Rockefeller was drafted to serve in the Army, a problem he resolved through hiring substitutes to serve in his stead, and as the war drew towards a close began to consider investing his sizable profits in the business of refining crude oil for kerosene, the main means of lighting at the time.