A Second Try at a Topic

[Copperhead-mi]

I don't know if this will help you but I found two references in the O.R.s to paymasters with gold and silver coins; one during March 1861 and the other during February 1863:

[Except from a report in regards to the seizure of U.S. army's paymaster's money by State of Texas troops, dated March 4, 1861]:
To this report the following affidavit is attached, viz:
STATE OF TEXAS,
County of Bexar:
Personally appeared before me the undersigned subscribers, and after being duly sworn say that the foregoing report is correct, and that the amount was said to be over $30,000; in gold and silver coin, contained in seven large boxes and two bags, and money acquired by requisition by Major Macun, paymaster, U. S. Army, and for which he was accountable.
W. M. EDGAR,
Captain A. C. Guards, Texas Service.
M. SPALDING GORD,
First Lieutenant, A. C. Guards, Texas Servsce.
O.R. Series I, Volume I, pg. 548

------

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON, Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter.,
February 18, 1863.
Col. CYRUS A. REED,
Adjutant- General State of Oregon, Salem, Oreg.:
COLONEL:
I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your letter of the 10th instant. Several of the objections which you mention as standing in the way of recruiting in Southern Oregon are being removed. The soldiers are being paid mostly in gold. The paymasters have received $100,000, five-sixths of which was gold. I see by the paper that Paymaster Eddy, from San Francisco, went to Upper Sacramento to make a payment in gold, and had $45,000 with him. Camp Baker is not in my district and is paid from San Francisco. I am also informed that General Wright has been authorized to establish a military post in the Klamath Lake country. I have no doubt that it will be done in the spring. I have no objections to your giving that information to the public; also please let Mr. Hand know of it. I wrote some time since the most urgent letters that the troops should always be paid in gold. It would be but the purest justice. The first step I took in June last in San Francisco when placed in command of this district was to ask for funds on account of the appropriation for raising, collecting, and organizing volunteers.
I am, with high respect, your obedient servant,
BENJ. ALVORD,
Brigadier- General, U. S. Volunteers,
O.R. Series I, Volume 50 (Part II), pg. 317

 

[unionblue]

hmmmm. 100 years later my pay as a private in boot camp (1961) $78 bucks a month. Gee, I was really cutting the fat hog!

John,

July 1971, basic training, private, my pay? $110 dollars a month.

Two months later, in AIT, after President Nixon's wage and price controls were removed, my pay shot up to $232 bucks a month.

I didn't know what to do with ALL that money!

Then I got married.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[Copperhead-mi]

John,

July 1971, basic training, private, my pay? $110 dollars a month.

Two months later, in AIT, after President Nixon's wage and price controls were removed, my pay shot up to $232 bucks a month.

I didn't know what to do with ALL that money!

Then I got married.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

My E-1 pay in Basic was $102.00 per month. I was usually broke within a week or two.
Edited to add: And oh, I was married at the time with my wife attending University of Michigan!

 

[kevikens]

I don't know if this will help you but I found two references in the O.R.s to paymasters with gold and silver coins; one during March 1861 and the other during February 1863:
Thanks, Copperhead. In March of 1861 there was of course no federal currency yet so that is not surprising. Actually the 1863 document is not surprising either. Specie was the norm on the West coast even after specie payment was stopped in December of 1861 back east. Those on the West Coast absolutely refused to touch the Greenbacks and would not use the. The proximity to the western gold and silver deposits allowed them to get away with this.
[Except from a report in regards to the seizure of U.S. army's paymaster's money by State of Texas troops, dated March 4, 1861]:
To this report the following affidavit is attached, viz:
STATE OF TEXAS,
County of Bexar:
Personally appeared before me the undersigned subscribers, and after being duly sworn say that the foregoing report is correct, and that the amount was said to be over $30,000; in gold and silver coin, contained in seven large boxes and two bags, and money acquired by requisition by Major Macun, paymaster, U. S. Army, and for which he was accountable.
W. M. EDGAR,
Captain A. C. Guards, Texas Service.
M. SPALDING GORD,
First Lieutenant, A. C. Guards, Texas Servsce.
O.R. Series I, Volume I, pg. 548

------

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON, Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter.,
February 18, 1863.
Col. CYRUS A. REED,
Adjutant- General State of Oregon, Salem, Oreg.:
COLONEL:
I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your letter of the 10th instant. Several of the objections which you mention as standing in the way of recruiting in Southern Oregon are being removed. The soldiers are being paid mostly in gold. The paymasters have received $100,000, five-sixths of which was gold. I see by the paper that Paymaster Eddy, from San Francisco, went to Upper Sacramento to make a payment in gold, and had $45,000 with him. Camp Baker is not in my district and is paid from San Francisco. I am also informed that General Wright has been authorized to establish a military post in the Klamath Lake country. I have no doubt that it will be done in the spring. I have no objections to your giving that information to the public; also please let Mr. Hand know of it. I wrote some time since the most urgent letters that the troops should always be paid in gold. It would be but the purest justice. The first step I took in June last in San Francisco when placed in command of this district was to ask for funds on account of the appropriation for raising, collecting, and organizing volunteers.
I am, with high respect, your obedient servant,
BENJ. ALVORD,
Brigadier- General, U. S. Volunteers,
O.R. Series I, Volume 50 (Part II), pg. 317

 

[kevikens]

I don't know what just happened there but here is what I wrote as your reply. Thanks, the 1861 document is no surprise as there as yet was no US federal currency. Actually the 1863 document is no surprise either. Although the eastern banks suspended specie payment in December of 1861, the West Coast banks with their proximity to the gold and silver fields of the Rockies and Sierra Nevada continued with specie use. They hated the federal Greenbacks and refused to use them, except at a steep discount. Thanks again

 

[unionblue]

My E-1 pay in Basic was $102.00 per month. I was usually broke within a week or two.
Edited to add: And oh, I was married at the time with my wife attending University of Michigan!

Ouch!

Sincerely,
A-Brother-in-Marriage