Information Sheet
R Sutter, John Jacob.
624 Collection, 1865-1871.
Two folders, photocopies.
These are a
notebook and travel journal by John J. Sutter, a native of Germany and resident of St. Louis, Missouri. The memoranda book covers Sutter’s service as
inspector of artillery in the Department of the Missouri
in 1865, and inspections at Cape Girardeau, Macon, Rolla, and Springfield,
Missouri; and Fort
Leavenworth, Fort
Scott, and Paola, Kansas. The journal, in German, covers a trip from St. Louis to Germany and return in 1871.
During the Civil
War, John J. Sutter enlisted in the 2nd Missouri Artillery and was
commissioned captain of Battery B.
After service with the battery at New Madrid and Rolla in 1863-1864,
Sutter took part in the operations against General Sterling Price in the fall
of 1864. Sutter was appointed assistant
inspector of artillery in the Department of the Missouri in 1865. His duties included inspection of men,
horses, and equipment of various batteries in the department. His reports were submitted to Colonel John
V. Dubois, inspector general, and Colonel Nelson Cole, chief of artillery of
the department. Sutter’s notes of his
findings were entered in a small memorandum book. The entries begin at St.
Charles, Missouri, on 3 April
1865, after which Sutter visited the following posts: Macon
City, Missouri (5 April), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
(8 April), Paola, Kansas
(11 April), Cape Girardeau, Missouri
(3 May), Springfield, Missouri
(15 May), Rolla, Missouri
(18 May), Paola, Kansas
(16 July), and Fort Scott, Kansas (18 July). Included with notes on travel and expenses
are copies of Sutter’s completed reports for Macon,
Fort Leavenworth,
Paola, and Cape Girardeau. The reports indicate the number of men at
each station, their military bearing, and the condition of the camps, public
property, animals, and records. The
report for Paola includes a sketch of the earthworks at that location.
In 1871, Sutter
returned to Germany
for a family visit and to celebrate his birthday in his native Briesgau region. His
travel diary, written in German, is accompanied by notes by Gerda Adawi-White
of the UM-Rolla Library staff. Sutter
left St. Louis
on 12 June 1871. His travel companion
for the entire journey was Willi Rinkel, also a resident of St. Louis.
They traveled by rail to New York,
where they boarded the steamer Donau
for Bremerhaven, Germany, on 17 June. The ship arrived in Germany on 29
June. Sutter met his parents, brothers,
and sisters in Altenheim, after which he traveled extensively in the
Alsace-Lorraine region. His purpose was
primarily social and recreational, but Sutter also carried sums of money from
friends in Missouri for their relatives in Germany, and
visited tobacco factories and a meerschaum pipe factory, where he purchased a
quantity of meerschaum. He also noted
destruction caused by the Franco-Prussian war.
Sutter began the return journey on 14 August. Accompanying Sutter and Rinkel were Sutter’s
sister, Lena, who was emigrating to the United
States, and his father, who returned home via Cologne. At Bremen,
Sutter and his sister had their travel documents approved and bought more
meerschaum with their remaining German currency. They boarded the steamer Deutschland at Bremerhaven, and
returned to the United States
with an intermediate stop at Southampton, England. They disembarked at New York on 4 September. Traveling by train via Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh, Sutter and Rinkel arrived in East St. Louis on 7
September.
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