War Department Office Supplies, 1863-64

[Pvt Schnapps]

Years ago Mark Jaeger sent me a copy of the annual letter from the Secretary of War to Congress reporting expenditures from the "Contingent Fund" for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864. Being a bit obsessive about clerical matters I went through it, line by line, and wrote up the attached. We don't think much about the back office operations of the war, but Washington City would see an expansion of paperwork at headquarters very much on the scale of the increase in the size of the army itself. So, if anyone's interested in how many steel pens vs. quills were in use at the height of the war, or just how many miles of red tape were involved, you may want to take a gander within...

- - - Updated - - -

As a follow up to the Contingent Fund paper, and in preparation for the 150th anniversary of Fort Stevens, which included the actual deployment of War Department clerks in the defense of Washington City, I prepared this additional little paper detailing the pay and general working conditions of civil servants during the war. I have a few additional items as well, dealing specifically with "Greene's Battalion," but this seems more than enough for the casual reader...

[Andy Ackeret]

Re: War Department Office Supplies, 1863-64

Michael,

Excellent attention to detail, and much for us paperwork nerds to digest. Many thanks for sharing!

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: War Department Office Supplies, 1863-64

Outstanding!
Thanks for sharing your research Michael.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: War Department Office Supplies, 1863-64

Thank you both -- my favorite factoid of the war is that in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864 the headquarters offices of the War Department alone purchased 154 miles of red tape. Soldiers in the field would no doubt have been interested to know that Lincoln and Davis could thereby have settled the whole sad mess with a tug of war, and neither would have had to leave their office... ;)