Cullen Sawtelle (September 25, 1805 – November 10, 1887) was an American attorney and politician from Maine.

He received his early education under private tutors and in 1825 he graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

He studied law with Charles Greene of Athens, Maine and Daniel Wells of Greenfield, Massachusetts, attained admission to the bar in 1828, and practiced in Norridgewock.

After leaving Congress, Sawtelle relocated to New York City, where he was an attorney and credit manager for several mercantile firms until he retired in 1882.

[2] Their son Charles G. Sawtelle served as a brigadier general in the United States Army.