FORT ABERCROMBIE, D. T.
Sutler
OVERVIEW
The sutler was a civilian who was authorized to operate a store on or near a military camp, post, or fort. He could sell goods and items that were not considered necessary or supplied by the army. A sutler's inventory often included items such as tobacco, candy, manufactured clothes, hats, yard goods, cigars, tea, sardines, dried fish, alcohol, kitchen items, sewing needles, pins, and buttons. The sutler could sell just about anything in his store, but was expressly forbidden from selling ardent spirits (strong alcoholic beverages) to the enlisted men. Doing so could mean the loss of a sutler's license.
The prices he charged for these items were to be posted and were determined by a Council of Administration, which was made up of three officers (the commanding officer was not included on the council) plus a fourth who served as secretary. Because they approved prices and items, the sutler went out of his way to do favors for the officers and extended them liberal credit lines.
The sutler held a high social standing at the post and was on a par with the officers. He had no authority over the soldiers and was subject to military regulations. If there was an empty building on the post, the sutler could operate his store in it. He also had the options of building a store on the post. He was responsible for the maintenance of the building and also had to provide for his own upkeep.
The sutler was charged 15 cents per month for each soldier stationed there. This money went into a post fund, which was used to help widows and orphans of soldiers, and also assisted disabled or deranged officers and soldiers discharged without a pension (before the Civil War). It was also used for the education of soldiers' children at the post school, the purchase of books for the post library and the maintenance of a post band.
For these obligations, the sutler was granted exclusive trade rights with the post, the privilege of extending credit to the soldiers and was third in line at the pay table. Only debts due the government and the laundresses would be collected first. The sutler would inform the soldiers how much they owed and if there was a dispute, he had to present credit vouchers that supported his claims. A sutler could extend credit to only one-half of a soldier's salary per month. This system guaranteed the soldier would not be left broke when the paymaster came.
Extending credit was a risky proposition because of the high rate of desertion. A soldier could leave without paying his debts and since the desertion rate ran from 10%-25% per year, the sutler could go broke. The sutler could put in claims to the government to collect unpaid bills, but often the soldiers' names did not appear on the muster rolls and there was no way of verifying that the men whose names appeared on the credit vouchers were actually in the Army.
Corruption was common at all levels, from selling sutler licenses to officers taking bribes to keep prices high. One Civil War soldier considered his sutler to be ... a dirty rotten snake, I hope he gets smashed out of business - but not until I'm gone from here."
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
The tools of the sutler's trade that are on display in the sutler store at Fort Abercrombie include the following:
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The
sutler at Fort Abercrombie played an important and varied role in the fort's society.
He essentially ran a general store which provided a wide and diverse selection
of goods. It also served as a bar, an entertainment center, the post office, and
a news stand.
As with the department stores and supermarkets of today, the sutler strove to stock a wide variety of good to appeal to his diverse clientelle. Sutlers carried (among other things) bolts of cloth, blankets, ready made clothes, footgear, food, spices, writing equipment, china dishes, musical instruments, miscellaneous household furnishings, tools, general hardware, and an assortment of personal items (razors, soap, pipes, fish hooks, etc.). This represented quite an impressive display.
And so, troops had their tobacco, laundresses their needles and thread, while the wealthier families of officers could live in a manner befitting their station in life. Even the Army was a regular customer of the sutler's. The post quartermaster and surgeon would purchase small necessities such as vegetable seeds, tableware, cups, crocks, and other items that the army could not supply in a timely manner. Indians and fur traders were also welcome to buy, but their purchases represented a very minor portion of the business transacted.
Probably
of equal interest to many inhabitants of the fort was the fact that the store
functioned as post bar. One can readily imagine the need for artificial
stimulation induced by the boredom and isolation of frontier garrison life. Beer
and wine were the only alcoholic drinks permissible to sell to the enlisted men.
Since the reasoning behind all this was to avoid intoxication on the part of the
troops, drunken behavior would not be tolerated in the store.
The sutler's store was a place where the soldiers could relax. Most sutler stores had a pool table and soldiers could also play games such as checkers or dominoes.
The sutler also served as postmaster. Soldiers would leave outgoing letters with him to be sent by freight wagon. Incoming letters, while eagerly sought, could also be costly to the soldiers.. In the 1840s, postage was paid by the recipient of a letter, not the sender. The cost of receiving a letter varied, depending on the distance involved. Beyond 400 miles , the rate was 25 cents per sheet of paper. A barrel of flour could ship for 2/3 of that cost.
Finally, the sutler's store was a place where people came to hear the news and to catch up on the latest gossip. The sutler often had access to news sources the army didn't. The sutler was not as constrained by economic considerations as the army was. He could afford a newspaper subscription, while the army often went without. The sutler also heard news through the grapevine from his customers and during his travels to buy goods for his store.
BRASS, FELT AND FEATHERS
One of the hallmarks of a good business is good customer service. Merchants know that in order to succeed they need to know their customers and carry items that appeal to them. At Fort Abercrombie in the 1860s, the sutler had a diverse group of customers: some who wore brass, some who wore felt and some who wore feathers. The sutler carried goods that appealed to all of these groups. And by virtue of trading with these various clients, he would have had an interest in keeping them at peace with each other, which made him a diplomat, of sorts, as well as a store keeper.
The sutler's main customers were the men and women at the fort. This included the officers and their wives, laundresses (who traded soap and lard for various items), the surgeon, and even the Army itself made purchases at the sutler store. However, the majority of the sutler's customers were the enlisted men.
The sutler carried several items that appealed to the rank and file. Jawharps - a popular musical instrument, playing cards, sewing kits, combs, razors, and toothbrushes. The sutler also sold edibles such as apples and pickles as well as things like chewing tobacco (which came in twists) and cigars. The sutler could sell beer and wine to the enlisted men, but the army prohibited him from offering them anything stronger.
Often the enlisted men did not actually have the money to pay for their purchases. Therefore, the sutler could and did extend credit. However, there was a credit limit - the soldier could not exceed half of his monthly income. For a private, that limit would be six dollars and fifty cents a month,. This protected both the soldier and the sutler. For the sutler, it meant that if a soldier deserted prior to paying his bill, he would not be out a great deal of money. For the soldier, it assured that he had some money left over each month after all of his debts were collected from him.
The soldiers could visit the sutler's store when off duty, and many of them did. It was a place to relax, visit, purchase necessities and to get away from the routine military life for a while. In most sutler stores, soldiers could play checkers or pool.
Officers and their wives also frequented the sutler store. They would often make purchases for dinner parties and would buy things such as furs to adorn their homes. Because they were not as likely to desert and made significantly more money (starting salary for a lieutenant was twenty-one dollars a month), there was no credit limit for the officers. Also an officer could buy stronger spirits than the enlisted man. The reason for this preferential treatment was tied in part to the officers' social status. Another possible factor was the fact that the officers on the Council of Administration set the prices for items charged. Thus favorable treatment toward officers could lead to higher prices and more profit for the sutler.
Besides doing business with the military, the sutler did a substantial trade with the civilians and local Indian tribes. Local farmers often traded eggs, dairy products, meat, and produce at the sutler store in exchange for clothing material, toys for their kids, pipe tobacco and any other items that would have interested them.
The trade with the Indians was primarily in furs and jewelry which the Indians would exchange for other items not readily available to them. The sutlers at Fort Abercrombie knew the Lakota and Chippewa (Ojibeway) languages so that they could conduct business with those tribes.
Because sutlers traded with all of these people, the sutler would have an interest in cooperation between these various parties, thus becoming an agent in maintaining peaceful relations on the frontier.
James V. Acker, Pres.