Hard times for the sutler in western Virginia
Lt. Col. Stephen J. McGroarty, 61st Ohio Infantry Campaigning in the mountains of western Virginia proved to be an arduous task for the Union troops who drew this assignment. For the sutler of the 61 st Ohio Infantry, it proved not only arduous but highly unprofitable as shown by the following incident from June 1862. The 61 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry had been camped in the vicinity of Petersburg chasing after scattered bands of Confederate cavalry and bushwhackers. On June 11 th , the regiment was ordered to march to Moorefield and there the trouble began. “Things are pretty high here and difficult to get,” related Private Edwin D. Miles of Company E. “Our lieutenant colonel (Stephen J. McGroarty) likes his bitters very much and not being able to get it as cheap as he thought it ought to be sold, they charging $1.25 per pint for whiskey and 25 cents for pies, he ordered the sutler to leave in a 1 ½ hours, which he did not comply with, and a soldier understanding the matte