New York State Adjutant General's Office Transcriptions of War of 1812 Payrolls for New York State Militia Units

Numerical by stamped number and therein roughly by name of paymaster and voucher number.

This series consists of transcripts of payrolls kept by the regional paymasters of the United States Army recording payments to regiments in the New York State Militia. Governor Daniel D. Tompkins appointed the regional paymasters to administer the distribution of funds obtained from the United States War Department. These funds were entrusted to the regional paymasters who then delivered them to the regimental paymasters. Payments to the New York State Militia, Volunteers and Sea Fencibles (soldiers responsible for the defense of the Port of New York) are included in these rolls.

The top of the payroll forms includes spaces for information such as: captain's name; colonel's name; regiment's name; regiment's number; company's home county; and where they were stationed.

Many of the rolls include the name of the captain or other direct commanding officer and the name of the colonel under which the regiment served, but few include the name and number of the regiment, the company's home county, or where they were stationed.

Beneath this information are columns labeled: name of soldier; rank; dates of appointment or enlistment; to what time engaged or enlisted; amount paid in lieu of clothing and traveling expenses; total paid; and remarks.

The columns labeled "dates of appointment" and "to what time engaged or enlisted" contain dates that mark a pay period rather than total service time. Remarks about discharges and how much pay soldiers were allowed for the return trip home, when and where soldiers died, desertions, and other conditions for pay stoppage are included.

These payrolls were sequentially numbered using a mechanical stamp and red ink. The arrangement is not consistent and it seems likely that the documents were numbered for inventory or control purposes.

Series B0810, Abstracts of Payrolls for New York State Militia Units that Served in the War of 1812, consists of payroll cards for individual soldiers who served in that war. The information listed in the payroll cards was abstracted from the payrolls contained in this series (B0811), and at the bottom of each of these cards is the number of the payroll from which it was abstracted and often the name of the paymaster and the respective voucher number.

Microfilm is available at the New York State Archives.

Microfilm: 5 reels; 35 mm.

B0810Series B0810, War of 1812 abstracts of payrolls for New York State militia ("Payroll Cards"), references the War of 1812 payrolls found in this series

A0020Series A0020, War of 1812 certificates of claim and related records, contains related records

A3352Series A3352, Claim applications for service in the War of 1812, contains related records.

Folder and roll lists are available.

Collation date ca. 1880s.

One payroll page, (#1675-1676, 2nd Artillery Regt.) which was missing at the time the series was originally accessioned, was transferred to the Archives by a private citizen and refiled in November 2008. Exact provenance of the returned sheet is unknown.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.