Soldiers pay!

[Audrey]

I'm intrigued to know how soldiers were paid. Did they have to have bank accounts? How often were they paid? Could they draw money out during their years of service? Thank you for any info!

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

In New York, at least, soldiers were allowed to make "allotments" - basically a direct deposit where cash was automatically sent home (or as close to home as possible.)

 

[Audrey]

In New York, at least, soldiers were allowed to make "allotments" - basically a direct deposit where cash was automatically sent home (or as close to home as possible.)

Interesting. I see you're from Syracuse! My great (x3) uncle Eli volunteered for the war while in New York. He'd recently emigrated from UK and was living in a boarding house in Monroe Street.

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

Interesting. I see you're from Syracuse! My great (x3) uncle Eli volunteered for the war while in New York. He'd recently emigrated from UK and was living in a boarding house in Monroe Street.

Do you know what regiment he fought in?

 

[Pollaco]

So the paymasters just rode into camps with a wagon load of chests or what? What kept him from being ambushed?

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

So the paymasters just rode into camps with a wagon load of chests or what? What kept him from being ambushed?

It's the army. There were guys with guns and such who could stand guard.

 

[Pollaco]

It's the army. There were guys with guns and such who could stand guard.

Exactly what I imagined someone would say but there were crooks in the Army too and probably lots of them, I would imagine. What I meant was how did the money get from Point A to point B?I'm sure it involved lots of escorts and guards.Special railway cars maybe?

 

[Don Dixon]

So the paymasters just rode into camps with a wagon load of chests or what? What kept him from being ambushed?

Nothing. As an exaple I would cite Mosby's "greenback" train raid on 12 October 1864 in which he seized $173,000 from Federal paymasters and divided the spoils among the 84 Confederate rangers involved in the raid.

Regards,
Don Dixon

 

[Audrey]

Do you know what regiment he fought in?

Company A, New York 10th Cavalry, known as Porter's Guard. He was a bugler.

 

[edfranksphd]

Not to be too clever, but the South solved this problem by simply NOT paying their soldiers always & everywhere for most of the war. When paid it was worthless paper, and their own commissary were broke too, so they got most of there food while in winter camp from home by sending men home on leave for the purpose of getting supplied from families. Toward end of the war they didn't even have enough paper to print the worthless money, so impressment officers simply would write IOUs to famers and merchants unlucky enough to not be able to hide their supplies. The North had no such shortages, and though their paper money didn't get worthless, it did lose half it's value during the war, but at least the commissary was always well stocked. Not sure the mechanism of actually handling payroll...