Sutlers

Regulations For The Army 1863.

ARTICLE XXV.

211. Every military post may have one Sutler, to be appointed by the Secretary of War.

Sutlers were the soldiers’ gateway to goods and services not provided by the Army. They operated under Army regulation but were not employees of the United States; their profits came from sales to individual soldiers. The sutler’s inventory—that by law could not include alcohol— improved morale and provided access to goods the Army did not want to stock or track. Providing that soldiers had the means to purchase their wares and were not constantly on a campaign, sutlers could do a brisk business.

The Regulations allowing sutlers surfaced divisions by rank and race in the 54^th and other black regiments. The United States government’s decision to pay African Americans half the amount offered to white troops created a racial injustice that the 54^th resisted when its enlisted men (at great personal sacrifice) refused to accept their pay until they received wages equal to those of white troops. The practical consequence was that black troops were constrained to the rations provided to them by the army or the sutlers had to offer them sales on credit. It was not until September 28 and 29, 1864, that the African American enlisted men in the 54^th finally got paid equal wages. At that point many had large bills to pay at the sutler’s “store”—a tent set off to one side of the Regiment’s camp on Morris Island.

Edgar Perez, September 20, 2013