Tell me more! What is a cavalry token?

I saw one for sale, quite expensive, online. It was from a PA unit and dug in Virginia. I'm not going to buy it but I had not thought of anything being a token - only coins or specie.
Is it a sutlers token? If so if it was made for a particular unit they can be quite rare. They were used as change so that when a soldier bought something from a sutler thay would get them back in change which was pretty smart on the sutlers part. Some sutlers had tokens made with the regiments numbers.
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It didn't say but I'm guessing that's what it was and that makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
 
Added money maker, as good chance the soldier would never cross each others paths again
Yes but then I have read where some sutlers stayed with a unit throughout an entire campaign which are the one where the sutler would have tokens made with the sutlers name as well as the unit they were following around. Most sutlers tokens just have the sutlers name and amount the token war worth.
 
Yep--- a sutler's token (i.e., script). It was issued by John Metcalf, sutler for the 3rd Ohio Cavalry.
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Also here's a couple more sutler tokens that were auctioned off last year, including a Metcalf token:

 
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