Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-10-14
The orderly rode off to the Tennes

same order / suppose, and In a Few
minutes he came through our camp or
his way back to Gen. Bliss headquar-
our company streets perfect fusilade
of shots broke forth. The chaplain
says 1 laid aside my dignity at once
and ran over to where the orderly had
ridden into the company street. did
get there in time to let the orderly un-
derstand that 1t should not happen
again and it did not occur again until
the orderly was gone and was in my
tent.
Having received orders to look into
the details Of how the pay rolls were
to be made up, I rode over to head
quarters on Tuesday morning and
called on the chief paymaster. 1t
seems that in all we'll regulated reg
iments there is man detailed as
clerk for every company, and he at
tends to all clerical work. This clerk
is relieved from all military duties, so
when the paymaster instructed me to
send the company clerks over for in
structions, made bad break by tell
ing him that our company clerks had
all insisted on going into battle with
the regiment.
Like all the army officers with whom
I came in contact, the paymaster very
kindly gave me full instructions, not
only on this occasion, but on the other
several times that had to visit his
office before the pay roll was COM
pleted. The making up Of the roll,
while not a very complex matter in it
self, was rendered troublesome by the
fact that the regiment remained in its
camp but few hours at any one time.
Printed blanks were sent us from the
paymaster's office. On them were to be
entered the names of every man in a
company, commencing with the cap
tain. The names Of the privates were
arranged alphabetically. A separate
roll was made out for the staff officers
and for the medical department.
Four copies of each roll were made,
two to be sent to paymaster, one re-
tanned by captain Of company, and one
to be sent to the adjutant generals Of
flee. Every man in the regiment had
to sign his name on four different
rolls. After the rolls were signed up,
in this way, they were approved by
Colonel Boyd. On Friday afternoon a
our camp and mustered the men for
pay. That is, he took one Of our
rolls and called out the names Of the
men on it. The company whose roll
he had was formed in the same order
as the names on the roll, alphabetically
and as the mans name was called, he
answered and went back to quarters.
The mastering officer is required to
see the man as he ANSWERS to his
name. If a name Is called and the
man is not present to answer, he does
not receive any pay.
In our case, the mastering officer,
was kind enough to hold the rolls un-
til next day to allow those who
were absent and not aware Of the ex-
act hour Of the mastering officers visit
to get In their names.
On Saturday morning, carried the
completed rolls to the paymaster's Of
flee. That office filled in the amounts
due the men and We were paid off the
next day, Sunday, at the depot before
taking the train. There were six tents
for paying off, numbered from one to
six. Each organization was told to
which Of these tents to go. The front
and back flaps of these tents were open,
so that a man could step in, receive
his pay and step out quickly. Seated
at a table was the paymaster and his
clerk, and behind him an iron chest,
containing the money. Every one of the
bills used was new money drawn from
the United States treasury for the pur
pose. Two regulars were on guard at
each tent. A captain would come up
to the front Of the tent, with his pay
roll in his hand and his company be-
hind him formed in the order named
on the roll. The clerk had duplicate
Of the payroll before him, and as the
captain would call out name and the
man step into the tent, the clerk
would call out the amount due him, the
paymaster would hand it to him and
the man go out at the rear. 1t did
not take many hours to pay off the
whole army. The men received 43
cents a day and were paid from the
day they left home until reaching home
again. Both officers and men received
the same pay as the regular army.
The writer's pay was s4.44 per day, and
he could have continued to vancouver
at this price for several days longer.
When the last man of company had
been paid, the captain receipted the
roll retained by the paymaster.
The review was held on Saturday
and was a grand sight. I rode over
to headquarters to deliver the complet-
ed payrolls and did not arrive at the
reviewing field until some Of the
troops had already passed in review
| Our regiment was one of these and
was marching off the field as 1 came
up, but Joined the coloners staff and
we rode back to see the review.
General Grants army passed in re-
view first, then he and his staff rode
off and General Bell took his place and
General Bells army passed in review
Nearly every command had music
horseback. Every arm Of the service
was represented, infantry, artillery
cavalry, hospital and pontoon bridges
had never seen an army before and
as 1 watched the troops pass by, they
looked so we'll equipped, so healthy and