Chapter 3

SUPPLIES TO THE HOSPITALS, DEVOTING THEIR WHOLE TIME TO THE WORK, ETC.

WOMAN'S CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF RELIEF. _By Mrs. Julia B. Curtis._

Organization and officers of the Association--It becomes a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission--Its Registration Committee and their duties--The Selection and Preparation of Nurses for the Army--The Finance and Executive Committee--The unwillingness of the Government to admit any deficiency--The arrival of the first boxes for the Association--The sacrifices made by the women in the country towns and hamlets--The Committee of Correspondence--Twenty-five thousand letters-- The receiving book, the day-book and the ledger--The alphabet repeated seven hundred and twenty-seven times on the boxes--Mrs. Fellows and Mrs. Colby solicitors of donations--The call for nurses on board the Hospital Transports--Mrs. W. P. Griffin and Mrs. David Lane volunteer, and subsequently other members of the Association--Mrs. D'Oremieulx's departure for Europe--Mr. S. W. Bridgham's faithful labors--Creeping into the Association rooms of a Sunday, to gather up and forward supplies needed for sudden emergencies--The First Council of Representatives from the principal Aid Societies at Washington--Monthly boxes--The _Federal principle_--Antietam and Fredericksburg exhaust the supplies--Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler's able letter of inquiry to the Secretaries of Auxiliaries--The plan of "Associate Managers"--Miss Schuyler's incessant labors in connection with this--The set of boxes devised by Miss Schuyler to aid the work of the Committee on Correspondence--The employment of Lecturers--The Association publish Mr. George T. Strong's pamphlet, "How can we best help our Camps and Hospitals"--The Hospital Directory opened--The lack of supplies of clothing and edibles, resulting from the changed condition of the country--Activity and zeal of the members of the Woman's Central Association--Miss Ellen Collins' incessant labors--Her elaborate tables of supplies and their disbursement--The Association offers to purchase for the Auxiliaries at wholesale prices--Miss Schuyler's admirable Plan of Organization for Country Societies--Alert Clubs founded--Large contributions to the stations at Beaufort and Morris Island--Miss Collins and Mrs. W. P. Griffin in charge of the office through the New York Riots in July, 1863--Mrs. Griffin, is chairman of Special Relief Committee, and makes personal visits to the sick--The Second Council at Washington--Miss Schuyler and Miss Collins delegates--Miss Schuyler's efforts--The whirlwind of Fairs--Aiding the feeble auxiliaries by donating an additional sum in goods equal to what they raised, to be manufactured by them--Five thousand dollars a month thus expended--A Soldiers' Aid Society Council--Help to Military Hospitals near the city, and the Navy, by the Association--Death of its President, Dr. Mott--The news of peace--Miss Collins' Congratulatory Letter--The Association continues its work to July 7--Two hundred and ninety-one thousand four hundred and seventy-five shirts distributed--Purchases made for Auxiliaries, seventy-nine thousand three hundred and ninety dollars and fifty-seven cents--Other expenditures of money for the purposes of the Association, sixty-one thousand three hundred and eighty-six dollars and fifty-seven cents--The zeal of the Associated Managers--The Brooklyn Relief Association--Miss Schuyler's labors as a writer--Her reports--Articles in the Sanitary Bulletin, "The Soldiers' Friend," "Nelly's Hospital," &c. &c.--The patient and continuous labors of the Committees on Correspondence and on Supplies--Territory occupied by the Woman's Central Association--Resolutions at the Final Meeting. 527-539

SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY OF NORTHERN OHIO.

Its organization--At first a Local Society--No Written Constitution or By-laws--Becomes a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission in October, 1861--Its territory small and not remarkable for wealth--Five hundred and twenty auxiliaries--Its disbursement of one million one hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars in money and supplies--The Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair--The supplies mostly forwarded to the Western Depot of the United States Sanitary Commission at Louisville-- "The Soldiers' Home" built under the direction of the Ladies who managed the affairs of the Society, and supplied and conducted under their Supervision--The Hospital Directory, Employment Agency, War Claim Agency--The entire time of the Officers of the Society for five and a half years voluntarily and freely given to its work from eight in the morning till six or later in the evening--The President, Mrs. B. Rouse, and her labors in organizing Aid Societies and attending to the home work--The labors of the Secretary and Treasurer--Editorial work--The Society's printing press--Setting up and printing Bulletins--The Sanitary Fair originated and carried on by the Aid Society--The Ohio State Soldiers' Home aided by them--Sketch of Mrs. Rouse--Sketch of Miss Mary Clark Brayton, Secretary of the Society--Sketch of Miss Ellen F. Terry, Treasurer of the Society--Miss Brayton's "On a Hospital Train," "Riding on a Rail"--Visit to the Army--The first sight of a hospital train--The wounded soldiers on board--"Trickling a little sympathy on the Wounded"--"The Hospital Train a jolly thing"--The dying soldier--Arrangement of the Hospital Train--The arduous duties of the Surgeon. 540-552

NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S AUXILIARY ASSOCIATION.

Its organization and territory--One million five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars collected in money and supplies by this Association-- Its Sanitary Fair and its results--The chairman of the Executive Committee Miss Abby W. May--Her retiring and modest disposition--Her rare executive powers--Sketch of Miss May--Her early zeal in the Anti-slavery movement--Her remarkable practical talent, and admirable management of affairs--Her eloquent appeals to the auxiliaries--Her entire self-abnegation--Extract from one of her letters--Extract from her Final Report--The Boston Sewing Circle and its officers--The Ladies' Industrial Aid Association of Boston--Nearly three hundred and forty-seven thousand garments for the soldiers made by the employes of the Association, most of whom were from soldiers' families--Additional wages beyond the contract prices paid to the workwomen, to the amount of over twenty thousand dollars--The lessons learned by the ladies engaged in this work. 553-559

THE NORTHWESTERN SANITARY COMMISSION.

The origin of the Commission--Its early labors--Mrs. Porter's connection with it--Her determination to go to the army--The appointment of Mrs. Hoge and Mrs. Livermore as Managers--The extent and variety of their labors--The two Sanitary Fairs--Estimate of the amount raised by the Commission. 560-561

MRS. A. H. HOGE.

Her birth and early education--Her marriage--Her family--She identifies herself from the beginning with the National cause--Her first visit to the hospitals of Cairo, Mound City and St. Louis--The Mound City Hospital--The wounded boy--Turned over for the first time--"They had to take the Fort"--Rebel cruelties at Donelson--The poor French boy--The mother who had lost seven sons in the Army--"He had turned his face to the wall to die"--Mrs. Hoge at the Woman's Council at Washington in 1862--Labors of Mrs. Hoge and Mrs. Livermore--Correspondence-- Circulars--Addresses--Mrs. Hoge's eloquence and pathos--The ample contributions elicited by her appeals--Visit to the Camp of General Grant at Young's Point, in the winter of 1862-3--Return with a cargo of wounded--Second visit to the vicinity of Vicksburg--Prevalence of scurvy--The onion and potato circulars--Third visit to Vicksburg in June, 1863--Incidents of this visit--The rifle-pits--Singing Hymns under fire--"Did you drop from heaven into these rifle-pits?"--Mrs. Hoge's talk to the men--"Promise me you'll visit my regiment to-morrow"--The flag of the Board of Trade Regiment--"How about the blood?"--"Sing, Rally round the Flag Boys"--The death of R--"Take her picture from under my pillow"--Mrs. Hoge at Washington again--Her views of the value of the Press in benevolent operations--In the Sanitary Fairs at Chicago--Her address at Brooklyn, in March, 1865--Gifts presented her as a testimony to the value of her labors. 562-576

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

Mrs. Livermore's childhood and education--She becomes a teacher--Her marriage--She is associated with her husband as Editor of _The New Covenant_--Her scholarship and ability as a writer and speaker--The vigor and eloquence of her appeals--"Women and the War"--The beginnings of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission--The appointment of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Hoge as its managers--The contributions of Mrs. Livermore to the press, on subjects connected with her work--"The backward movement of General McClellan"--The Hutchinsons prohibited from singing Whittier's Song in the Army of the Potomac--Mrs. Livermore's visit to Washington--Her description of "Camp Misery"--She makes a tour to the Military Posts on the Mississippi--The female nurses--The scurvy in the Camp--The Northwestern Sanitary Fair--Mrs. Livermore's address to the Women of the Northwest--Her tact in selecting the right persons to carry out her plans at the Fair--Her extensive journeyings--Her visit to Washington in the Spring of 1865--Her invitation to the President to be present at the opening of the Fair--Her description of Mr. Lincoln--His death and the funeral solemnities with which his remains were received at Chicago--The final fair--Mrs. Livermore's testimonials of regard and appreciation from friends and, especially from the soldiers. 577-589

GENERAL AID SOCIETY FOR THE ARMY, BUFFALO.

Organization of the Society--Its first President, Mrs. Follett--Its second President, Mrs. Horatio Seymour--Her efficient Aids, Miss Babcock and Miss Bird--The friendly rivalry with the Cleveland Society--Mrs. Seymour's rare ability and system--Her encomiums on the labors of the patriot workers in country homes--The workers in the cities equally faithful and praiseworthy. 590-592

MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY.

The Patriotic women of Michigan--Annie Etheridge, Mrs. Russell and others--"The Soldiers' Relief Committee" and "The Soldiers' Aid Society" of Detroit--Their Consolidation--The officers of the New Society--Miss Valeria Campbell the soul of the organization--Her multifarious labors-- The Military Hospitals in Detroit--The "Soldiers' Home" in Detroit-- Michigan in the two Chicago Fairs--Amount of money and supplies raised by the Michigan Branch. 593-595

WOMEN'S PENNSYLVANIA BRANCH OF UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION.

The loyal women of Philadelphia--Their numerous organizations for the relief of the Soldier--The organization of the Women's Pennsylvania Branch--Its officers--Sketch of Mrs. Grier--Her parentage--Her residence in Wilmington, N. C.--Persecution for loyalty--Escape--She enters immediately upon Hospital Work--Her appointment to the Presidency of the Women's Branch--Her remarkable tact and skill--Her extraordinary executive talent--Mrs. Clara J. Moore--Sketch of her labors--Other ladies of the Association--Testimonials to Mrs. Grier's ability and admirable management from officers of the Sanitary Commission and others--The final report of this Branch--The condition of the state and country at its inception--The Associate Managers--The work accomplished--Peace at last--The details of Expenses of the Supply Department--The work of the Relief Committee--Eight hundred and thirty women employed--Widows of Soldiers aided--Total expenditures of Relief Committee. 596-606

THE WISCONSIN SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY. _By Rev. J. G. Forman._

The Milwaukie Ladies Soldiers' Aid Society--Labors of Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Delafield and others--Enlargement and re-organization as the Wisconsin Soldiers' Aid Society--Mrs. Henrietta L. Colt, chosen Corresponding Secretary--Her visits to the front, and her subsequent labors among the Aid Societies of the State--Efficiency of the Society--The Wisconsin Soldiers' Home--Its extent and what it accomplished--It forms the Nucleus of one of the National Soldiers' Homes--Sketch of Mrs. Colt-- Death of her husband--Her deep and overwhelming grief--She enters upon the Sanitary Work, to relieve herself from the crushing weight of her great sorrow--Her labors on a Hospital Steamer--Her frequent subsequent visits to the front--Her own account of these visits--"The beardless boys, all heroes"--Sketch of Mrs. Governor Salomon--Her labors in behalf of the German and other soldiers of Wisconsin. 607-614

PITTSBURG BRANCH UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION.

The Pittsburg Sanitary Committee and Pittsburg Subsistence Committee-- Organization of the Branch--Its Corresponding Secretary, Miss Rachael W. McFadden--Her executive ability zeal and patriotism--Her colleagues in her labors--The Pittsburg Sanitary Fair--Its remarkable success--Miss Murdock's labors at Nashville. 615, 616

MRS. ELIZABETH S. MENDENHALL.

Mrs. Mendenhall's childhood and youth passed in Richmond, Va.--Her relatives Members of the Society of Friends--Her early Hospital labors-- President of the Women's Soldiers' Aid Society of Cincinnati--Her appeal to the citizens of Cincinnati to organize a Sanitary Fair--Her efforts to make the Fair a success--The magnificent result--Subsequent labors in the Sanitary Cause--Fair for Soldiers' Families in December, 1864-- Labors for the Freedmen and Refugees--In behalf of fallen women. 617-620

DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH.

Dr. M. M. Marsh appointed Medical Inspector of Department of the South-- Early in 1863 he proceeded thither with his wife--Mrs. Marsh finds abundant work in the receipt and distribution of Sanitary Stores, in the visiting of Hospitals--Spirit of the wounded men--The exchange of prisoners--Sufferings of our men in Rebel prisons--Their self-sacrificing spirit--Supplies sent to the prisoners, and letters received from them--The sudden suspension of this benevolent work by order from General Halleck--The sick from Sherman's Army--Dr. Marsh ordered to Newbern, N. C., but detained by sickness--Return to New York--The "Lincoln Home"--Dr. and Mrs. Marsh's labors there--Close of the Lincoln Home. 621-629

ST. LOUIS LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY.

Organization of the Society--Its officers--Was the principal Auxiliary of Western Sanitary Commission--Visits of its members to the fourteen hospitals in the vicinity of St. Louis--The hospital basket and its contents--The Society's delegates on the battle-fields--Employs the wives and daughters of soldiers in bandage rolling, and subsequently on contracts for hospital and other clothing for soldiers--Its committees cutting, fitting and examining the work--Undertakes the special diet kitchen of the Benton Barracks Hospital--Establishes a branch at Nashville--Special Diet Kitchen there--Its work for the Freedmen and Refugees--Sketches of its leading officers and managers--Mrs. Anna L. Clapp, a native of Washington County, N. Y.--Resides in Brooklyn, N. Y., and subsequently in St. Louis--Elected President of Ladies' Union Aid Society at the beginning of the war, and retains her position till its close--Her arduous labors and great tact and skill--She organizes a Refugee Home and House of Industry--Aids the Freedmen, and assists in the proper regulation of the Soldiers' Home--Miss H. A. Adams, (now Mrs. Morris Collins)--Born and educated in New Hampshire--At the outbreak of the war, a teacher in St. Louis--Devoted herself to the Sanitary work throughout the war--Was secretary of the society till the close of 1864, and a part of the time at Nashville, where she established a special diet kitchen--Death of her brother in the army--Her influence in procuring the admission of female nurses in the Nashville hospitals-- Mrs. C. R. Springer, a native of Maine, one of the directors of the Society, and the superintendent of its employment department, for furnishing work to soldiers' families--Her unremitting and faithful labors--Mrs. Mary E. Palmer--A native of New Jersey--An earnest worker, visiting and aiding soldiers' families and dispensing the charities of the Society among them and the destitute families of refugees--Her labors were greater than her strength--Her death occasioned by a decline, the result of over exertion in her philanthropic work. 630-642

LADIES' AID SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA, &C.

Organization of the Society--Its officers--Mrs. Joel Jones, Mrs. John Harris, Mrs. Stephen Caldwell--Mrs. Harris mostly engaged at the front-- The Society organized with a view to the spiritual as well as physical benefit of the soldiers--Its great efficiency with moderate means--The ladies who distributed its supplies at the front--Extract from one of its reports--Its labors among the Refugees--The self-sacrifice of one of its members--Its expenditures. THE PENN RELIEF ASSOCIATION--An organization originating with the Friends, but afterward embracing all denominations--Its officers--Its efficiency--Amount of supplies distributed by it through well-known ladies. THE SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY--Another of the efficient Pennsylvania Organizations for the relief of the soldiers--Its President, Mrs. Mary A. Brady--Her labors in the Satterlee Hospital--At "Camp Misery"--At the front--After Gettysburg, and at Mine Run--Her health injured by her exposure and excessive labors--She dies of heart-disease in May, 1864. 643-649

WOMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND.

Brooklyn early in the war--Numerous channels for distribution of the Supplies contributed--Importance of a Single Comprehensive Organization--The Relief Association formed--Mrs. Stranahan chosen President--Sketch of Mrs. Stranahan--Her social position--First directress of the Graham Institute--Her rare tact and efficiency as a presiding officer and in the dispatch of business--The Long Island Sanitary Fair--Her excessive labors there, and the perfect harmony and good feeling which prevailed--Rev. Dr. Spear's statement of her worth-- The resolutions of the Relief Association--Rev. Dr. Bellows' Testimony-- Her death--Rev. Dr. Farley's letter concerning her--Rev. Dr. Budington's tribute to her memory. 650-658

MRS. ELIZABETH M. STREETER.

Loyal Southern Women--Mrs. Streeter's activity in promoting associations of loyal women for the relief of the soldiers--Her New England parentage and education--The Ladies' Union Relief Association of Baltimore--Mrs. Streeter at Antietam--As a Hospital Visitor--The Eutaw Street Hospital-- The Union Refugees in Baltimore--Mrs. Streeter organizes the Ladies' Union Aid Society for the Relief of Soldiers' families--Testimony of the Maryland Committee of the Christian Commission to the value of her labors--Death of her husband--Her return to Massachusetts. 659-664

MRS. CURTIS T. FENN.

The loyal record of the men and women of Berkshire County--Mrs. Fenn's history and position before the war--Her skill and tenderness in the care of the sick--Her readiness to enter upon the work of relief--She becomes the embodiment of a Relief Association--Liberal contributions made and much work performed by others but no organization--Mrs. Fenn's incessant and extraordinary labors for the soldiers--Her packing and shipping of the supplies to the hospitals in and about New York and to more distant cities--Refreshments for Soldiers who passed through Pittsfield--Her personal distribution of supplies at the soldiers' Thanksgiving dinner at Bedloe's Island in 1862, and at David's Island in 1864--"The gentleman from Africa and his vote"--Her efforts for the disabled soldiers and their families--The soldiers' monument. 665-675

MRS. JAMES HARLAN.

Women in high stations devoting themselves to the relief of the Soldiers--Instances--Mrs. Harlan's early interest in the soldier--At Shiloh--Cutting red-tape--Wounded soldiers removed northward after the battle--Death of her daughter--Her labors for the religious benefit of the soldier--Her health impaired by her labors. 676-678

NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION.

History of the organization--Its Matron, Mrs. E. A. Russell--The Women's Auxiliary Committee--The Night Watchers' Association--The Hospital Choir--The SOLDIERS' DEPOT in Howard Street, N. Y.--The Ladies' Association connected with it. 679, 680