How did the generals during the civil war go about taking homes for their headquarters buy force or was there payment?

Answer 1

There was no payment, at least not at the time. After the war some home owners may have tried to file claims with the government, but since most were in the south this almost always failed. Some home owners welcomed the generals, if they were of the army the home owner favored (there were Union sympathizers in the south), or because having the general in the house ensured that the common soldiers would not be free to come and loot the place, and might preserve the fences from being burned for firewood. As a rule the generals would select the largest home in the area, which usually belonged to a well-to-do farmer. Often the family would be allowed the use of a room or two and would stay in the house too. Force usually did not need to be even threatened, as most home owners would understand there was nothing they could do to prevent the use of their home once the armies arrived in the area. Homes and barns, churches, any structure would also be commandeered for use as a hospital after battles, and bleeding men hauled in and laid all over the floor, amputations on the dining room table and so on. General Lee usually made it a point to stay in his tent, but the tent was often on the lawn of a fine home. (The tent and Lee's "camp equipage" are in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia). During the winter of 1862-63 Stonewall Jackson was on the estate called Moss Neck, belonging to a prominent Confederate family, but stayed in a one room outbuilding used by the man of the house as an "office" - what today might be called a "man cave". By late in the war with Yankee armies roaming the south many southerners found themselves more or less unwilling hosts to Yankee headquarters of various levels of command, but again, this might afford protection to the home (though more than one was burned as the Yankees departed) and might also bring scarce food, though, more often the result was the complete loss of all food on the place.