It would really depend most of the stuff I have read about was revolutionary era so that’s what I’ll talk about. There were mainly two types of troops in the revolutionary war militias and continentals they were hired by different people so they were paid from them two. The militias were hired by each individual state and for only a short period of time often time a couple months so they would be paid upfront the full amount and then get a bonus at the end of tenure and also get a paid more if they signed up again. Many times the states wouldn’t even communicate with each other So a militia man could go to the recruiters sign up get paid the bonus from each one and go home without ever serving a day. The continentals were hired by Washington and the fledgling federal government early on they were hired for a year and would be paid monthly. These soldiers would have a more modern and recognizable form of payment at the end of each month or week they would go up to the commissar in the camp and get payment however they were payed in the money of the government at the time which was useless or they didn’t get payed at all so when the war ended there was a huge backlog of payment to the veterans of the war. So they might not get payed and if they did most of the time it was useless. If they died a relative would go to the commissar and pick up the money backlog. in this book they talk about his difficulties recruiting soldiers when they knew the money was worthless