If I may, a dumb question about Civil War documents.

[WHADIFIND]

I've recently come into possession of some documents. There are a couple payroll vouchers, mustered out letters and what appears to be a ledger for paying Civil War soldiers. Any suggestions about how I might get them checked out? I'm trying to figure out just what I have here.

Thanks!

 

[WHADIFIND]

I see you are south of the Mason Dixon Line. If I were you I would take them to the Confederate Museum in Richmond and have them check out what you have they may be interested.

Well, I don't know. With signatures like Jas S Wegley & J Howe Watts, I kind of think these are from an organization a little north of the line.

Thanks for your help!

HH!

 

[WHADIFIND]

Sounds like you have a paymaster's voucher and his mustered out papers. You need to look over the figures closely. There may be a missing payroll he canceled somewhere at the end of the War? Just guessing but I believe that is what you have found. Could be a lot of money in it for you to check it out closely. Do you know of any bookkeepers or accountants in your area--------they may have some good insight into what you have.

I was looking for a blank check buried in it somewhere.

I do know some accountants but they aren't well versed in history, just numbers balancing.

These papers get more interesting the more I read them. If I'm not missing my guess, there is something that might be an entire payroll report of some sort. Dates I'm seeing seem to be around 1862-3. There might be some rubber stamping of some of the signatures I'm seeing but a LOT of them just have to be manual. I'm thinking I really need to figure out how to get these checked out and soon! Some are crumbling but some, look to be like they were written yesterday! In any case, they should be in a museum somewhere!

Thanks for your help!