Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-01-14
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
HONESTY or THE SOLDIER.
Not a Paymaster Robbed During "o''
Than Four Years of the War

Not Paymaster hop"oN
Than Four Years of the war
After the first entry of the volunteer
into the new life of the soldier, IL az
WAYS seemed to me. that either tne
oath of muster in or some invisible
cause made him man OF honol,
a man whose word could be trusted l
am willing TO admit that in the prepara-
tory camp he may have BEEN ana was
somewhat wild, but when ne became
somewhat accustomed to the routine OF
soldierly duties saw the necessity OF
drill and discipline. his word always
seemed to me as good as gold.
This fact is more firmly established
for the reason that with the thousands
of opportunities have yet to hear OF a
lnavmaster being robbed during the war
by the sutler, the volunteer or regular
soldier and this point stands out IN
high relief to their credit. for nothing
could have been more easy during
those DAYS than for one soldier and one
accomplice making themselves inde-
pendently rich, had they been SO dis
posed.
During the last two years the surviv-
ing soldier of the late war will no
doubt remember the small iron safe
carried by paymasters when they came
10 ''the front"'to pay off the troops
They were small, as matter OF course,
and two men could carry it easily, 1t
having a handle on each side for that
purpose.
When a paymaster would arrive, he
would be given an extra tent in which
to place the safe; guard would be de-
tailed who was supposed to keep the
safe in sight, and well remember an
incident that came under my own view
of that kind. The safe in this instance
the paymaster told me. sew
en- hundred thousand dollars An ex-
ira tent was assigned him on his ar
rival. and detail of three men, all he
asked for, was made to guard the extra
tent. The guard paced backward and
forward in front of it, but as he could
not possibly see the rear of it. and only
It's sides, any one can read
ily see that it would have been no diff
cult matter for two dishonest soldiers
to have cut open the tent from the rear,
quietly enter it, and carry off the safe
with all its contents, the guard being
none the wiser. Even the guard could
easily have become an accomplice with
some others, and winked at the rob
berry After securing the booty, it
could easily have been hidden away,
TO await a future visit; when the for
tune could have been secured and di-
vided.
This is only one illustration of the
ease with which paymasters could have
been robbed, but there were dozens of
other plans that might have been put
IN force, whereby a fortune might have
been secured
To the everlasting credit of the sol
iiers composing the federal army dur
ng the late war, not a single paymas-
Ter was robbed by the soldiers them
selves They did lose money in many
ways; one | believe, lost in gambling
nearly all the contents of his safe: an
immense amount of greenbacks were
ost by the sinking of the Sultana on
he Mississippi, below Memphis, il re-
correctly, rising into more
han a million of dollars They lost
money in many other ways, but no sol
lier that ever heard of, was guilty,
With all the opportunities at his dispos-
Il, of taking a single greenback from
hem.
There was something in the service
hat seemed to put men on good beha-
nor; it might have been the oaths re-
luired of them. or it may have been |
he knowledge that when they wore
he uniform of their country they rep
esented the everlasting principles of |
light justice and humanity in general, |
md that it would be inconsistent in !
hem to do single act that was mean i
II wrong. In any way it may be
ooked at the fact that no paymaster
vas robbed by the soldiers during the
var, whose opportunities were excel
emit every day, speaks volumes in
raise of the inherent honesty of the +
'ay corps of the federal army during /
he war-Reub. Williams, in American
Tribune