1. merchants who follow armies to sell provisions and supplies to soldiers
Usage: historical

Examples

• Sutlers accompanied the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
• The sutlers set up their tents near the military camp to sell food and supplies.
• Civil War sutlers provided soldiers with tobacco, newspapers, and other goods.
• Army regulations strictly controlled what sutlers could charge for their wares.
• Many sutlers made substantial profits selling to homesick soldiers.
• The general ordered the sutlers to move their operations away from the battlefield.