Paymaster Question???

[tooch14]

Hello all,

Long time viewer of this forum but firt time poster. I have seen the other posts on this forum regarding federal paymasters. I know the paymaster usually held the rank of Major. I however have seen shoulder boards of other ranks, distinguished as part of the pay department. Is this a reenactorism or were there other ranks within the pay department, and what would their function be? Would the assist the paymaster? Would they perform similar tasks as the paymaster himself?

Thanks so much for the help, and very sorry if this question has been answered I have searched this forum as well as googled information and have come up pretty much empty handed.

Regards
Terence Vierling

[decajun4513]

Re: Paymaster Question???

Did you ever find an answer to this? I'm curious as well.

[Matthew Semple]

Re: Paymaster Question???

Terence,

The US Army regulations for branch color on shoulder straps did not change throughout the American Civil War or even in the post-war era. The shoulder straps required the olive green field and the appropriate rank for seniority. To show an actual example of this: Benjamin W. Brice became the Army Paymaster-General in November 1864. He retained the position until his retirement in 1872. If you search for a photograph of Major General Benjamin W. Brice (I am not sure of the copyrights on the photo so I will not post here), you will see that he is wearing Major General shoulder straps with a Paymaster's sword on his lap. That photo was taken sometime between March 1865 (when he was brevetted to Major General) and his retirement in 1872.

If you search the Library of Congress, they have a photo of a drawing of him wearing shoulder scales with Major General stars on them. That drawing was created between March 1865 and 1872.

Additionally, this is a good source for presenting the history of those who became Army Paymaster-General before that department was folded into the Quartermaster Department:

http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-Pay.htm

I hope this helps.

Matt

[Matthew Semple]

Re: Paymaster Question???

Christopher,

Because Terence did not get a response several years ago and he has not signed on recently, I doubt that you will get a response from him.

To close out this 6+ year old thread and potentially put it into the archives for future searches, can you respond to and provide feedback on what I provided?

Very respectfully,
Matt

[JEBminnesota]

Re: Paymaster Question???

Hello all,

Long time viewer of this forum but firt time poster. I have seen the other posts on this forum regarding federal paymasters. I know the paymaster usually held the rank of Major. I however have seen shoulder boards of other ranks, distinguished as part of the pay department. Is this a reenactorism or were there other ranks within the pay department, and what would their function be? Would the assist the paymaster? Would they perform similar tasks as the paymaster himself?

Thanks so much for the help, and very sorry if this question has been answered I have searched this forum as well as googled information and have come up pretty much empty handed.

Regards
Terence Vierling

In most cases I have found is that the Paymaster would have officers sent out to do the actual payroll to the men due to the size of the army. Captain's and Lieutenant's usually and they worked for the Paymaster or otherwise known as Payroll officers.