The Sutler's Store - Vancouver, Washington
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 45° 37.565 W 122° 39.950
10T E 526049 N 5052558
Marker giving information about the predecessor to the current post exchange found on military installations.
Waymark Code: WMJAHD
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 10/19/2013
Views: 3
Text of marker:
The Sutler's Store
Until the late 19th century, the U.S. Army awarded sales commissions to civilian traders, known as sutlers. Each post or regiment was authorized to appoint one. Described as "a combination of saloon keeper and general store operator," the sutlers supplied troops, with goods and food to supplement army rations.
The first sutler at Vancouver Barracks was Elisha Camp, who came with the 4th Infantry in 1852. By all accounts, Camp ran a profitable enterprise selling diverse items such as coffee, flour, liquor, tobacco, crockery, wool socks, and toothbrushes. However, after less than a yer in Vancouver, his store mysteriously "exploded." Camp returned to the east Coast leaving behind at least one unhappy investor: a young Brevet Captain named Ulysses S. Grant. A successor soon rebuilt the store, and the sutler tradition continued until being replaced by a post canteen, the first in the military.