CIVIL WAR ALLOTMENT CHECKS

With respect to Michael Atkins' article in the recent E-Sylum, which pictured an “Allotment Check” requesting additional information, I submit the following. An Allotment Check allowed a civil war soldier to send a portion (the allotment) of his pay directly to someone else (generally his wife or parents).

According to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotment_Commission_(United_States_Civil_War )

They appear to have been issued by several (if not all) of the Union states, and by both the Army and Navy.

A copy of one in my collection is:

My New York, Army Allotment check is virtually identical to the one in The E-Sylum except that it features the bust of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War. However, mine still has the stub attached at the left side:

As these checks would have been returned to the issuing authority after being cashed, they were likely held for a period and then simply destroyed.

Such allotments have been used by the military ever since the Civil War for any number of reasons (e.g., to family, paying off a debt). I remember when my mother used to get “Allotment Checks” while my father was stationed in Korea during the Korean War.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
QUERY: A BLANK CIVIL WAR PAYCHECK (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n05a13.html)

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