Sutlers Row 1864

1864 Sutlers Row

SOURCE: National Archives - Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes

Photograph of Sutlers Row in Chattanooga, Tennessee. These businesses are located on Chestnut Street between 8th and 9th streets. Some of the businesses shown are: Scott, Keen, & Company; M. C. Graham, boots, shoes, hats and caps; and Dunlap &Bowdre, supply store; Etowah Restaurant and saloon and St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the far right.

Sutler: A person who accompanies troops in the field or in garrison and sells food, drink, and supplies. The articles of war prescribed that persons permitted to sutler shall supply the soldiers with good and wholesome provisions or other articles at a reasonable price.
A sutler was considered a civilian by the government and officers were forbidden under penalty of court martial to involve themselves in the affairs of a sutler.

Sutler Newspaper Ad
The Nashville Daily Union,
March 11, 1864

Items of interest:

  • Broken windows can be seen in the building adjacent to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The church was used as a hospital during the Civil War and sustained serious damage. The government paid the church $3,640 in damages and the congregation held their first service back in the repaired church on Thanksgiving Day 1867.
  • What appears to be formal road building underway(?) with crushed stone and formed cement posts.
  • It appears the Sutlers of 1864 knew more about the importance of good store signage than many retailers today. The signs are impressive for their size, neatness of lettering, and use of easy-to-read san-serif fonts.

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