Note reads, “NO. 1548, SCOTT’S NINE HUNDRED UNITED STATES CAVALRY, GOOD FOR TWENTY-FIVE CENTS IN TRADE” and is signed, “J R BOSTWICK, SUTLER”.

J.R. Bostwick was the sutler, or private supplier, of non-military items to soldiers in the 11th New York Cavalry known as “Scott’s 900” after its namesake Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War.  In 1861 James B. Swain of New York was given authority to raise a volunteer regiment and he named it after his friend Scott. The regiment eventually contracted with J.R. Bostwick to serve as its “sutler” or supplier of nonmilitary items.  Bostwick supplied “gloves, blacking, polishing stuffs, thread, needles, pipes, tobacco and cigars” and sometimes food, according to a booklet published in 1897, The Story of a Cavalry Regiment: "Scott's 900" Eleventh New York Cavalry, by Thomas West Smith.

Measures 2 ¼” x 4”.  No tears or holes. Some light surface dirt is present.  [sm, ld]

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