182 THE SANITARY COMMISSION. $15,000,000 worth of supplies were furnished during the war. Through the efforts of the Commission the soldiers were permitted to commute their rations, selling to the Government the surplus foods that otherwise would have been wasted, the money secured in this way being used to purchase fresh vegetables, milk and butter. 66 After the battle of Murfreesboro and at Vicksburg and other places, scurvy broke out among the troops. The Government could not obtain potatoes, but the Sanitary Commission, through its potato and onion circulars" to farmers, secured an immense quantity of potatoes and green vegetables and saved many lives. Vegetable gardens, worked by contrabands and convalescents, were established at Nashville, Knoxville, Newbern, and Chattanooga, potatoes, lettuce, squashes, okra, etc., being raised. The battle of Antietam was the first great battle where the organization of the Sanitary Commission told. Chloroform, opiates and medical stores were supplied, and within a week there were furnished "28,768 shirts, towels, bed ticks, etc.; 30,000 pounds of bandages and lint; 3,188 pounds of farina, 2,620 pounds * *It must be remembered that the canning industry was then in its infancy and that canned vegetables, with few exceptions were not to be had, although desiccated vegetables were used by some extent. William Underwood and Company, of Boston, furnished the Navy Department with a considerable quantity of canned tomatoes and canned roast beef, besides pickles and curried cabbage. See the note in Rhodes, United States, vol. v., p. 249. of condensed milk, 5,000 pounds of beef stock and canned meats, 3,000 bottles of wines and cordials, and several tons of lemons, fruit, crackers, tea, sugar, rubber cloth, tin cups, and hospital conveniences." Before the war the Government had no general hospital, only tent hospitals, the largest containing 40 beds. Under the suggestion of the Sanitary Commission well-equipped general hospitals in pavilion form were built under the direction of the Medical Department, which was also to arrange for the transportation of the sick and wounded and attend to their diet. But the Government could not handle this work properly and much of it devolved on the Sanitary Commission, which also operated during the war more than 30 ambulance cars, carrying to the hospitals in the East about 100,000 men and in the West 125,000, the railroads conveying the cars free. The Commission performed much work not contemplated upon its organization. A special relief service was organized to care for men on their way to and from the front, 40 "homes," "rests" and "lodges" being established for this purpose. The inmates were kept under surveillance that no danger might befall them; their passage home was paid when necessary. This branch also established feeding stations, where hot soup and coffee were always ready, and cared for discharged prisoners at parole camps and the motley crowd of substitutes, stragglers, deserters, etc., THE SANITARY COMMISSION. 183 held in the principal Northern cities, and in this way $2,736,000 were raised. The cash receipts of the Commission up to May 1, 1866, were $4,962,014.26 and of branch treasuries nearly $2,000,000, over one-fifth of the total amount coming from California. Thus the women of the North contributed their portion to the success of the war and in giving due recognition to them we cannot do better than quote Lincoln's words at one of the fairs: at convalescent camps, affording them comforts, information, and opportunities to communicate with their families. In 1864 an Auxiliary Relief Corps was organized to care for the sick and wounded sent to the depot field hospitals in the rear of large armies and also for those left behind by an army on the march. It furnished food, stimulants, underclothing, and reading matter, communicated with the soldiers' friends, obtained express packages, and in many instances provided Christian burial. The Commission distributed sanitary tracts, prepared by experts, to the army surgeons, and these were largely reprinted in the newspapers with obvious effects. A hospital directory dinary war, extraordinary developments have was established with branches in various cities to record entrances, transfers and dismissals. Nurses and physicians were supplied in emergencies. It was difficult at first to raise sufficient money for preventive measures. In 1861 and 1862 the people of the North were poor and money came in slowly; up to October 1, 1862, the receipts amounted only to $170,000. But at a critical time in 1862 California saved the Commission by a generous contribution of $100,000 in one sum, and thereafter gave liberally to the work. Later, when the work broadened, railroad, telegraph and express companies gave their services and the people furnished an abundance of funds. In the autumn of 1863 and afterward sanitary fairs" were 66 "This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldiers. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit then is due to the soldier. In this extraor manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and amongst these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America." * Lincoln's Complete Works, vol. ii., p. 500. On the Sanitary Commission and its work, see also C. J. Stillé, History of the United States Sanitary Commission; J. M. Forbes, Letters and Recollections, vol. i.; Katherine P. Wormeley, The Other Side of War; the article Sanitary Commission by Dr. Bellows, in Johnson's Universal Cyclopædia; the article United States Sanitary Commission by Jerome Walker, M. D., formerly relief agent, in Encyclopedia Americana; the medical and statistical memoirs of the Commission; Rhodes, United States, vol. v., pp. 244-259; Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions, pp. 275-284. 184 THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. Another benevolent undertaking of a similar nature was the United States Christian Commission, originated on November 16, 1861, at a convention of the Young Men's Christian Associations of the Northern States, for the purpose of promoting the spiritual welfare of the Federal soldiers, sailors, marines, etc., while alleviating, comforting, and humanizing their temporal needs. To select, commission and send forth persons to act as delegates was a most important and delicate duty. On the one hand, these persons represented the Commission and the Christian and patriotic sentiment of the people; and, on the other, had to accommodate themselves to the rules of the military and their work to the officers in charge, and minister acceptably to the physical, mental, and religious wants of the men. During the war 4,859 delegates were commissioned and they did much to relieve the "intolerable ennui" of camp life. The Government gave the Commission its warm approval and every possible facility for carrying on its operations; transportation and telegraph companies assisted, and the American Bible and Tract societies donated for distribution thousands of their publications. It distributed 466,000 copies of Bibles, Testaments and portions of Scripture, 8,000,000 copies of knapsack books, such as Newman Hall's Come to Jesus, over 1,000,000 hymn and psalm books, 39,000,000 pages of tracts and 18,000,000 religious news papers. The better class of magazines were bought at half-price and sent to the soldiers, free reading rooms were established in the camps, and State and county newspapers were kept on file; "soldiers' free writing tables " were maintained where paper and envelopes and even postage stamps might be obtained free; chapels for religious worship were established in which 136,152 sermons were preached and prayer meetings held; and in numerous cases, the wounded were cared for and furnished with food, hot coffee and stimulants. The cash receipts of the Commission during the war were $2,524,512; the value of the stores donated was $2,839,445; and the value of the publications donated was $300,000. According to Moss the general summary of receipts and values for 1862 to 1865 was $6,291,000. Numerous other charities were generously supported. Before the end of the war Congress had established a soldiers' home at Washington and a home for naval men at Philadelphia; several States provided homes; and many State and local asylums for the orphans of soldiers were erected. Contributions of all kinds poured in for the dependent families of killed. or disabled soldiers, the donations comprising everything from firewood to flour, farm produce, and money. OTHER CHARITIES; RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES. To aid the negroes many local freedmen's aid societies were formed, which united themselves into the National Freedmen's Relief Association of New York, the Friends' Association for the Relief of Colored Freedmen of Philadelphia, the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission of Cincinnati, and others, which in 1865 were combined into the American Freedmen's Aid Commission. Large sums were contributed to relieve the distress among the Southern white loyalists, the American Union Commission being formed to harmonize the work of local societies. The ordinary charities flourished as formerly, and continued their work. The first deaf and dumb asylum was founded at Hartford in 1817, another in New York in the same year and one each in Pennsylvania in 1820, in Ohio in 1829, in Kentucky in 1830, and in Virginia in 1839. In 1860 there were 23 of these asylums with 130 teachers and 2,000 pupils. The first asylum for the blind was built at Boston in 1833 and in the same year one each was erected in New York and Philadelphia. By 1860 the number had increased to 23, with 1,000 pupils. In 1751 the first insane asylum in America was built at Philadelphia;* between 1820 and 1860 more than 40 were erected. Free medical dispensaries were maintained; Boston and Philadelphia erected magnificent hos 185 pitals, and James H. Roosevelt left $900,000 for a similar institution in New York. The Children's Aid Society of New York received homeless newsboys in its Newsboys' Lodging House and homeless girls in its Girls' Home, instructed thousands of children in its industrial schools, and sent other thousands to the country to regain health or to the West for adoption into private homes. The church missionary societies reported continued activity and increased donations. The receipts of the American Bible Society of New York rose from $389,000 in 1860-1861 to $677,000 in 1864–1865, and the number of Bibles distributed from 700,000 to 1,300,000. The American Tract Society of New York received $93,000 in 1861 and $126,000 in 1865; in the former year it issued 6,700,000 pages of tracts and in the latter 109,000,000 pages. The work of the American Sunday-school Union was scarcely interrupted by the war; in 1859 it established 2,091 new Sunday-schools and helped 3,701; in 1864 its missionaries established 1,124 new schools and aided 5,236. The home missionary societies of the various churches extended their missionary efforts, until, at the close of the war, there were approximately 4,000 home missionaries of all denominations at work in the North. Contrary to the opinions of some, crime seemed to diminish during the war, judging by the statistics of the penal institutions. The penitentiaries 186 VICE AND CRIME; CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH. of New York held over 2,600 prisoners in 1860 but only 1,900 in 1865; the Massachusetts State prison received 509 prisoners in 1860 and only 376 in 1864, while in the county prisons of the State the number fell from 1,700 to 1,100. The Pennsylvania prisons held 21,585 prisoners in 1860 and only 14,000 in 1864. This diminution is perceptible in most of the other States, even though the population in the cities was increasing; but the nature of the crimes committed grew more bestial. It was when the soldiers returned from the war and before they had secured employment that the prisons filled up. In 1865 the number of arrests exceeded by 14,000 the number during 1864; in 1866 the State penitentiaries received 700 more prisoners than in 1864.* Conditions in the South were exactly the reverse of those in the North. The people of that section began to feel the pinch of the war as early as 1862. In July of that year Mrs. Jefferson Davis reports that, when gold was $1.50, beef and mutton sold in Richmond for 371⁄2 cents per pound, tea for $5 per pound, potatoes for $6 per bushel and boots for $25 per pair. In 1864 when gold was $22 (in Confederate money) a turkey sold for $60, flour was $300 per barrel, and xi. *Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions, chap. The history of Confederate finances and the economic activities of the Confederacy in industry and trade are told in previous pages (vol. viii., pp. 118-123, 139-146) and will not be duplicated here. See also the following chapter. shoes were $150 per pair. In the * Rhodes, United States, vol. v., p. 349. See also Schwab, The Confederate States of America, pp. 171-180, 312. On December 5, 1863, Mary B. Chesnut entered in her diary (Diary from Dixie, p. 262): "Spent seventy-five dollars to-day for a little tea and sugar, and have five hundred left. My husband's pay has never paid for the rent of our lodgings." Yet on January 8, 1864, she attended a charade party at which the supper consisted, among other things, of “ices, chicken salad, oysters, and champagne (p. 274.) On June 1, 1864, she gave $800 for two pounds of tea, 40 pounds of coffee and 60 pounds of sugar (p. 312). De Leon (Four Years in Rebel Capitals, p. 233) says that when beef, pork, and butter in Richmond reached $35 per pound, when common cloth was $60 per yard, shoes $200 to $800 per pair, and a barrel of flour worth $1,400, then, indeed, it became a difficult problem to fill one's stomach at any outlay. Jones, A Rebel War-Clerk's Diary, vol. ii., pp. 383-386. Regarding prices see also Smedes, A Southern Planter, p. 224; Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 49; Schwab, Prices in the Confederate States, in Political Science Quarterly, vol. xiv., p. 281 (June, 1899). Official Records, ser. iv., vol. ii, p. 1021. || Ibid, vol. lii., pt. ii., p. 384. |