Sawtelle, Charles G. (1834-1913) to Perley P. Pitkin
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02849 Author/Creator: Sawtelle, Charles G. (1834-1913) Place Written: Charles City, Virginia Type: Manuscript document signed Date: 24 July 1862 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 21 x 13 cm. Order a Copy
General order instructs Pitkin to send "a competent person" to meet "five hundred contrabands" and bring them rations. "Contrabands" were freed enslaved people employed by the Union army. Written as Captain. Written at Harrison's Landing, Virginia.
Charles G. Sawtelle was a captain and assistant quartermaster in the Union Army, rose to the rank of Brigadier General and became Quartermaster General in 1896. Perley P. Pitkin was a Captain and Assistant Quartermaster in the Union Army, later promoted Colonel and Quartermaster.
[draft] [excerpt]
Please detail a competent person to go down the river this afternoon, on the Steamer South America to receive five hundred Contrabands, and direct that five hundred rations together with the necessary cooking utensils be placed on board.
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