Buttons, Bowling, Billiards and Beer

Buttons, Bowling, Billiards and Beer. Sutler's Store , Fort Union National Monument. Just ahead you would have seen a military general store. This was one place at Fort Union where people were always coming and going, every day. Soldiers from the Post, the Depot, and the Arsenal , as well as civilian travelers, Army wives, and Indians , all bought goods here. Think of this as the frontier-era equivalent of stores found on military bases today. A licensed civilian merchant, called a sutler, stocked wares for sale , items, plain and fancy, that the Army did not issue to the troops. , Men also came here in their off-duty hours to hear the news, to pass time with friends and to be entertained. Officers and enlisted men could eat a meal in the sutler’s restaurant, bowl a game in his bowling alley, or try their hand at billiards in his parlor. Army sutlers also sold beer, whiskey, and at times even champagne for those customers who came in these doors with a thirst., On the sutler’s shelves you would have found… , Cigars . Candy . Pens . Belts . Tobacco Pipes . Jelly . Ink . Watches . Matches . Spices . Paper . Wallets . Canned Fruit . Molasses . Underwear . Patent Medicines . Soap . Canned Meat . Socks . Playing Cards . Scissors . Oysters . Shoelaces . Newspapers from “The States” . Combs . Spoons . Needles and Thread . Razors . Pocket Knives . Caps