1864 Civil War Treasury Check NY Regiment Bonus? Muster Out? Sad Story

[johnny12550]

Hi,

 

I bought this Civil War Treasury check today named to Henry Halpin and signed by Lt. Robert G. Welles of the 10th NY Infantry. My question is what would this check be issued for? I was told it was an enlistment bonus check. Could it be muster out pay? I've never seen one and cant find another on line. I found two Halpins, one from the 68th NY and the other from the 133rd NY. The check is not cashed, so would this be the one issued to Halpin and he did not cash it? (Hard to believe) of was it a copy that would be retained by Lt. Welles for his records?

 

As an aside ...... I was researching Lt Welles and came to find out that he was a nephew of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. In December of 1866 Robert Welles was in his home when he produced a pistol, put his arms around his father and gave him a kiss,bid him farewell, sat in a char and shot himself in the head. According to what I read he was a veteran of 14 battles and was disturbed over the death of a close friend at Gettysburg. He was also wounded at Gettysburg trying to remove that same friend from the battlefield. An early documented case of post traumatic stress disorder.

[Steve Rogers]

Welles served in the 10th US Infantry. You might pull his service record to see where he was in May, 1864. He had spent some time on recruiting and mustering duty before rejoining his regiment in the field for Gettysburg and may have been doing such duty again in 1864. I find a Henry Halpin who enlisted in the US Ordnance Corps in April, 1864. It is possible he is your man and the check is, indeed, a recruiting bonus or "bounty" that Welles was authorized to pay out. That would explain why the funds are drawn on the US Treasury rather than from a state.

[johnny12550]

Steve, Thanks for the information. Have you seen anther check like this? And, do you think this would have been Halpin's check or a copy/receipt kept by Welles?

[Steve Rogers]

It looks more like a check than a receipt to me, but I don't know what rules, if any, governed their cashing or cancellation. We might have the wrong soldier or the recipient might not have been a soldier at all and the check was written for some other reason, but the amount is a suspiciously round number and expect it will turn out to be a bounty or partial payment of a bounty for enlisting. I haven't seen another like it, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty out there somewhere.

It looks like Halpin also served in Battery H 1st US Artillery. He seems to have deserted from the Ordnance Dept. in August, 1865.

[lettow]

It is a check. I specialize in collecting US government checks and have seen several like it.

 

The Paymasters record was on a stub on the left side of the check.

[johnny12550]

Thanks for all the input. Since it is a check it just seems weird that it was never cashed or cancelled. $25 dollars was a nice sum back then and I would have imagined that it would have been cashed shortly after Halpin received it

[lettow]

The lack of an endorsement (which I am assuming since you did not show a picture of the back) or cancellation does not necessarily mean it was not cashed. Many of these checks represent payments that were made to the credit of the payee in an account in their name at a bank local to the paymaster and the payee never saw the actual check.

[johnny12550]

Ok, thanks for the information. That clears things up a bit. Yeah, I did not post a picture if the back of the check because the backside is blank.