May 07, 2020 - Sale 2534

Sale 2534 - Lot 322

Price Realized: $ 1,560
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) Sutler's token issued for the 119th United States Colored Troops. White metal token, 3/4 inch round, reading "J.M. Longwell, Sutler, 119 U.S.C.T." on obverse and "Good for 10 Cents in Goods Only" on reverse; minor wear. Np, circa 1865-66
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Additional Details

In a Civil War camp, a civilian sutler would be appointed to supply provisions to a regiment, and also to sell additional food and luxury goods to individual soldiers. Because of the lack of United States currency at the front lines, the sutlers would sometimes issue their own currency for the use of soldiers at their tent. These sutler's tokens are an interesting artifact of daily Civil War camp life, and those used by the United States Colored Troops are particularly scarce. The 119th United States Colored Infantry was formed in January 1865, and served in Kentucky until a few months after the war. Their sutler was likely James Madison Longwell (1827-1907), a white druggist and banker from Paw Paw, Michigan who had been wounded and discharged as a Union Army lieutenant in 1862.