CHARLES GREENE SAWTELLE
SAWTELLE, CHARLES GREENE, quartermaster-general United States army, retired; was born at Norridgewock, Somerset county, Maine, May 10, 1834. His father, the Honorable Cullen Sawtelle, was a native of Norridgewock (a descendant of Richard Sawtelle who came from England about 1636, and settled in Groton, Massachusetts); a graduate of Bowdoin, class of 1825, a lawyer, register of probate, state senator, 1843-44, representative from his district in the twenty-ninth and thirty-first Congresses, 1845-47 and 1849-51, and was married to Elizabeth Lyman in 1830.
Charles Greene Sawtelle was brought up in his native village, attended Mount Pleasant academy, Amherst, Massachusetts, Phillips academy, Andover, and was graduated at the United States military academy in 1854. He was made brevet second lieutenant July 1, 1854, second lieutenant 6th United States infantry, March 3, 1855, first lieutenant June 5, 1860, regimental quartermaster 6th infantry February 15, 1857, to May 17, 1861, and on May 17, 1861, was acting regimental adjutant. He was transferred to Washington, District of Columbia, in August, 1861, and placed in charge of the quarter-master's depot at Perry ville, Maryland; and in March, 1862, was transferred to the Virginia peninsula where he had charge of disembarking troops and forwarding supplies to the Army of the Potomac. He was assistant quartermaster with the rank of captain of staff up to September, 1862; was acting chief quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac, September-November, 1862; chief quartermaster of the 2d corps, November, 1862-January, 1863, with rank of lieutenant-colonel, staff volunteers; was chief quartermaster cavalry bureau, Washington, District of Columbia, August 1863-February, 1864. On the retreat of Banks' army from the disastrous expedition up the Red river, he constructed a bridge across the river at Atchafalaya using twenty-one river steamers as pontoons, over which the army passed in safety, May 15-19, 1864. He was chief quartermaster military division of West Mississippi, with rank of lieutenant-colonel, staff volunteers, June 6, 1864, to June 2, 1865;
