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Carla was the opposite of careful. To say she was careless would be an understatement. The following examples are good ones.

One day she got up on the wrong side of the bed. By mid-morning

things we’re going so badly she decided to head back home to get it

right. Carla got on her low rider but didn’t put on a helmet.

“Who cares if I live or die?’ she yelled then roared onto the winding

one-lane mountain road.

Carla paid no heed to the brooding black clouds gathering along the

ridgetops.

“Hit me with your best shot,” she hooted, sliding around a hairpin turn

at full speed. For that impertinence, Carla was pelted by a hailstorm.

“Is that the best you got!” she laughed.

Then the storm went utterly bananas.

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As the sun rose over Benedict Town on her first morning there, Estella slipped quietly past the Old Lads, snoring in the loft of Lyttlejohn’s farmhouse.

She marched briskly up the oyster shell path along the Patuxent River shoreline towards Sheffield’s Tavern on Post Road across from the Benedict Town ferry crossing.

Five grunting and cursing fishermen waist-deep in the water struggled to heave a heavy seine net full of spawning shad onto the shore. The viscous orange sunlight flickered overhead as a tremendous flock of ducks flew north up the river.

As Estella approached the red brick public house belching smoke from its massive chimneys at each end, she noticed the horse stable behind it and, next to that, a wattle fence corral.

From within the corral came the neighing of a horse and the commanding voice of a man with a distinctly Portuguese accent. Estella was intrigued.

So, instead of proceeding directly to Sheffield’s, she cut across a newly planted flax field towards the stable, treading carefully to avoid damaging the new starts.

A servant boy teetering under an armload of kindling from Sheffield’s giant woodpile paused momentarily to watch her progress. The strange, beautiful woman who wore men’s sailor clothes had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

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The tall, elegant, educated Catholic woman of Syrian and French descent created quite a stir when she first arrived in Patuxent on the coastal frontier.

Estella’s sparkling green eyes, pale olive skin, and raven black hair made her shine like a jewel amid the rough crowd of Scottsmen at the indentured servant auction. And her indecipherable cardplayer countenance was genuinely unnerving.

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The Romeo who once tried to lure Estelle into bed with nutmeg and poetry walked erratically down Post Road in Benedict Town. His giddy mannerisms and uncontrolled euphoria caught the Sheriff’s eye.

(Romeo’s real name was Kirby)

Kirby, despite being the manipulator of of inexperienced young women was usually the model of lucidity.

Puzzled, the Sheriff turned his horse around to question the obviously disoriented fellow.

“Kirby, what’s on with you today?” he asked .

The Scottish dandy leaned unsteadily against a street lamp, ran his fingers through his tousled hair, and smoothed the wrinkles of his rumpled suit. Twirling the silver nutmeg grinder that hung from his waist by a delicate chain, Kirby bragged. “Fourth one today.”

“One what?” The Sheriff asked.

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During the Civil War, Union paymasters were primarily responsible for distributing soldiers’ pay in cash, meticulously keeping track of troop rosters and service records, ensuring accurate payroll calculations, and often performing additional administrative duties like maintaining casualty reports, all while traveling with the troops to reach different encampments to conduct paydays, which were often a much-anticipated event for soldiers.

Key responsibilities of a Union paymaster included:

Disbursing Pay:

The primary function was to physically distribute soldiers’ paychecks in cash directly to troops during designated paydays.

Maintaining Payrolls:

Keeping detailed records of each soldier’s pay, including rank, service time, and deductions.

Muster Rolls:

Verifying soldier identities by checking against official muster rolls during paydays.

Record Keeping:

Maintaining accurate documentation of pay transactions, including casualty reports and service records.

Traveling with Troops:

Moving between different military camps to reach soldiers for pay distribution, often facing logistical challenges due to troop movements.

Accounting and Auditing:

Ensuring proper accounting procedures were followed to prevent discrepancies in payroll.

Important points to remember about Union paymasters:

Civilian-like Role:

Paymasters were often seen as more administrative than combat soldiers, with their primary focus on financial management.

Paymaster’s Chest:

A secure chest containing the necessary cash for paydays was a key tool for the paymaster.

Importance of Payday:

For soldiers, payday was a significant event that provided much-needed financial relief, often leading to celebrations.