A reprint of the Sanitary Commission Article in Peterson's Magazine-1863

HISTORY REVISITED

From Peterson's Magazine, May 1863

EDITORIAL CHIT-CHAT

(a recent research find, shared by Joan Kiplinger)

Women and the Sanitary Commission—Though States Sanitary Commission has just made an eloquent appeal to the women of the Nation, few are aware of the good this Commission has done. We confess to having never realized it ourselves till (sic) we heard its President, the Rev. Dr. Bellows, deliver an address on the subject in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. The Sanitary Commission is undoubtedly the best, if not the only safe way of reaching the sick and wounded of the army, with anything like system. Contributions to its stores can always be made effective, as its thorough national organization and official recognition by the military authorities, give it facilities for communication with and transportation to distant points, possessed by no other organization; while one almost necessary result of sending supplies through the numerous well-meaning independent relief societies is that some localities are overburdened with useful stores, while other places are comparatively destitute.

We do not mean to disparage other associations designed to aid sick and suffering soldiers. But however much good they may do, they would do more, generally, if working in direct aid of the Sanitary. One of the circulars of the Sanitary truthfully says:—"Little or no reliance can be had that articles sent to individual sick or wounded will ever reach their destination. We have good authority for saying that over twenty thousand undelivered packages for soldiers are now awaiting owners in the store-house of one express company in Washington."

"We believe that no express company ever undertakes to deliver packages to a particular individual or company. Boxes are perhaps taken to within five or six miles of the desired spot, but they are as useless there as if they had never been forwarded at all. No regimental transportation can be depended on for their conveyance, as regimental wagons are fully occupied in other service. The Sanitary Commission does not and cannot undertake to deliver specific articles to individuals, or to particular regiments, but adopts the broad principle of attending faithfully to the wants of any and every sick and wounded soldier who can be reached. It is, we believe, the only organization which is national and permanent in its character, having store-houses and branch offices in the principal cities of the country, and should have innumerable contributing aid societies in every county throughout the land, as it already has in many. It has transportation trains of its own following the armies in the field, in addition to unusual governmental facilities, and, in the pursuit of its humane mission, knows no North, South, East, or West. Large supplies of under-clothing for the sick and wounded soldiers—of prepared soups and jellies, wines, fruits, and other delicacies and articles of nourishment, so indispensable on such occasions, have always been on hand with the agents of the Commission, at the times and places most needed; and abundant testimony has been furnished that thousands of lives have been saved by the prompt administration of such stimulants and restoratives to the exhausted and almost perishing victims of some bloody and perhaps unexpected battle, by the faithful and devoted physicians and nurses connected with the Commission."

Nor does the circular exaggerate, in the least, the utility of the Sanitary. After the battle of Antietam, the Sanitary agents bore first on the field; and two days elapsed before even the government stores came up. This was because the railroad, which the government employed for transportation, was broken down; while the Sanitary, depending upon wagons, drove night and day, and so was in time. Think what the wounded would have suffered, alter that terrible conflict, if it had not been for the Sanitary! At Fredericksburg the services of the Sanitary were equally signal. "The agents of the Commission," says one of their circulars, "were promptly on the ground, and, acting in conjunction with the regular medical authorities, materially aided in having the wounded of that bloody struggle, better cared for on the spot, and more expeditiously and comfortably removed to hospitals, than after any previous battle. These results were largely do to the wise foresight of the Commission, enabled by the contributions of a liberal public to accumulate large quantities of the necessary supplies at such points as were most accessible for the purposes required."

With eight hundred thousand men in the field, the drain on the resources of the Sanitary is enormous. It is not money only that is needed. To an even greater degree things are required that money cannot buy, at least immediately. What is wanted are woolen, Canton flannel, and cotton material; cotton shirts, flannel nightshirts, woolen shirts, ordinary size and make; woolen stockings, blankets, quilts, towels, ring pads and cushions, stuffed with hair or feathers, bed-ticks; Canton flannel shirts and drawers, bottom drawers, woolen drawers, ordinary size and make; dressing-gowns, handkerchiefs, good size, sheets four feet wide and eight feet long, pillows, flannel (by piece); jellies, cocoa, dried fruit, chocolate, whiskey, pure lemon syrup, brandy, pickles, white wine (for wine whey). Preserves, jellies, and all articles contained in bottles and jars, in order to carry safely, should be securely packed in small boxes (marked glassware). Much loss, from the breaking of bottles and jars, has heretofore resulted from their not being properly packed.

To maintain a constant supply of these articles, the aid of ladies is indispensable. And this aid should be systemized. Societies, subsidiary to the Sanitary Commission, exist in many places. But there should be such a society, composed of women, in every city, town, and village in the land. In Philadelphia, though there has existed, from this first, a principal branch of the National Commission, the ladies have lately established a "Woolens Pennsylvanian Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission." This association has taken rooms at 1307 Chestnut street, and elected Caleb Cope President and Treasurer, and Mrs. Bloomfield H. Moore Corresponding Secretary. In an address, just printed, the association says:—" Our appeal is based upon the knowledge that this Commission (the
U. S. Sanitary) has greater facilities for doing this work than any state or local agency—that out of the thousands of boxes distributed by them, but one has been lost—that their agents are notified of the time of an army s advance and permitted to transfer their stores to as near the front as possible—and that they are the only organization authorized by the government to pass within the lines, and administer their supplies on the field of battle for the saving of life and the relief of suffering, knowing no difference between men from any nation. This work must be left undone if THE WOMEN of the land do not keep the Sanitary Commission supplied with the means of doing it. For this purpose, the women of Philadelphia have organized and invited every other woman in the city and state, and surrounding counties of other states, to co-operate with us. A small amount of self-denial, or of exertion on the part of each, would insure to the Commission an exhaustless supply of those needed stores. There is no time to be lost. Let every county, every town organize and put themselves in communication with us without delay. We know not how many lives depend upon our exertions—how much suffering rests with us to relieve. Let us assume these duties solemnly, with the determination that while the war lasts, we will devote our energies to this sacred cause."

To give this noble appeal larger circulation, to do what we can to alleviate the miseries of this terrible strife, we have written this article. It is not a question of party, for all parties can unite in this humane work. It is not a meter of charity either, it is a holy duty. Christ said, "Even as ye did it unto the least of one of these, ye did it unto me."

On one of the pages of the cover, we print a letter, from the Rev. Dr. Bellows, which enters into this subject at even more detail. We hope every one interested in the matter will peruse it.

We would add that Western women can send their supplies to Chicago, where the U.S. Sanitary has an agency.