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The Western Sanitary Commission
No
language can describe the suffering, destitution and
neglect which prevail in some of their "camps."
In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Americans
have shown great compassion for their fellow citizens.
As of September 19, 2005, the American Red Cross has
received nearly $765 million in donations. But such
outpourings of humanitarianism are not without precedent
in the American past. In 1863, at the height of the
Civil War, the war-torn South left thousands homeless
and starving. Not surprisingly, at that moment in our
history some of the most in need of aid were newly liberated
slaves.
This letter from the Western Sanitary Commission (WSC)
details “the condition of the Freed Negroes in
the Mississippi Valley.” The description of almost
unthinkable hardship in the Mississippi Valley is eerily
similar to stories that surfaced following Katrina:
“The sick and dying are left uncared for, in many
instances, and the dead are unburied.”
The WSC was organized on September 5, 1861, by General
John C. Fremont, Commander of the Western Army, and
D. L. Dix, a philanthropist from St. Louis, Missouri.
The Commission modeled itself after the United States
Sanitary Commission (USSC), a federally endorsed organization
created to unify the efforts of benevolent societies
to help provision the Union Army, and focused its efforts
on assisting western communities along the Mississippi.
The USSC and the WSC assumed similar roles: they set
up hospitals and administered medical services, housed
orphans, and improved sanitary and dietary conditions
in military camps and prisons. But there was a major
difference between the organizations; although the WSC
was endorsed by General Fremont, it was not considered
an official branch of the USSC and did not receive federal
funding.
The senior officers of the WSC had to draw from a well
of philanthropic experience to raise money for their
organization. The Commission’s president, James
E. Yeatman, nicknamed “Old Sanitary” by
Union troops, played an integral role in establishing
hospitals and medical services throughout Missouri,
introducing the state’s first railroad hospital
cars and the hospital boats on the Mississippi. His
officers included George Partridge and Carlos S. Greeley,
two Massachusetts businessmen who raised large sums
of money for the commission, medical doctor John B.
Johnson, and William G. Eliot, a Unitarian minister
and grandfather to poet T.S. Eliot, who were also active
fund raisers. Under their leadership, the WSC raised
a total of $4,270,988.55 between 1861 and 1865.
As noted in the letter, the WSC spent its first two
years attending to the sick and wounded of the Western
Army, mostly in Missouri. But this letter marks a significant
expansion of their mission In October of 1863, members
of the WSC traveled to the Mississippi Valley to assess
the situation there. Astonished by the mass suffering
that existed within several communities of freedmen
along the river the commission members alerted the senior
officers who in turn wrote to Lincoln on November 6
stating, “No language can describe the suffering,
destitution and neglect which prevail in some of their
“camps.” Seeking a role for private charities
to assist in their relief, they described a region upended
by the war; families were displaced, the sick were dying,
and many were left without the food, water or shelter.
“There are probably not less than fifty thousand,
chiefly women and children, now within our lines, between
Cairo and New Orleans, for whom no adequate provision
has been made.”
The WSC intervened, but not before requesting permission
from Lincoln. “We now respectfully ask permission
and authority to extend our labors to the suffering
freed people of the South-West South. If you give us
your endorsement in the undertaking before the people,
we think we can raise large sums of money, and accomplish
great good.” Their appeal to “offer our
humble but active services, asking no reward of any
kind, but the opportunity and encouragement to work”
was accepted. Consequently, the WSC accumulated $30,000
in clothing and other necessary materials as well as
$13,000 in cash to assist the communities along the
Mississippi. In recognition of his contributions, Lincoln
later asked James Yeatman to run the Freedman’s
Bureau.
-Brian Riggs, Research Associate
______________________
Forman, Jacob Gilbert. The Western Sanitary Commission;
a Sketch of Its Origin History Labors for the Sick and
Wounded of the Western Armies and Aid Given to Freedmen
and Union Refugees With Incidents of Hospital Life,
1864.
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LETTER
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
_______._______
ROOMS
WESTERN SANITARY COMMISSON,
ST.
LOUIS, NOVEMBER 6th, 1863
HIS EXCELLENCY, A. LINCOLN,
President of the United States.
SIR:--
The undersigned, members of the Western Sanitary
Commission, most respectfully represent, that the condition
of the Freed Negroes in the Mississippi Valley is daily
becoming worse, and calls most loudly upon the humane
and loyal people of the Northern States for help. There
are probably not less than fifty thousand, chiefly women
and children, now within our lines, between Cairo and
New Orleans, for whom no adequate provision has been
made. The majority of them have no shelter but what
they call "brush tents," fit for nothing but to protect
them from night dews. They are very poorly clad-many
of them half naked-and almost destitute of beds and
bedding-thousands of them sleeping on the bare ground.
The Government supplies them with rations, but many
unavoidable delays arise in the distribution, so that
frequent instances of great destitution occur. The army
rations (beef and crackers) are also a kind of diet
they are not used to; they have no facilities of cooking,
and are almost ignorant of the use of wheat flour; and
even when provisions in abundance are supplied, they
are so spoiled in cooking as to be neither eatable nor
wholesome. Add to these difficulties, the helplessness
and improvidence of those who have always been slaves,
together with their forlorn and jaded condition when
they reach our lines, and we can easily account for
the fact that sickness and death prevail to a fearful
extent. No language can describe the suffering, destitution
and neglect which prevail in some of their "camps."
The sick and dying are left uncared for, in many instances,
and the dead unburied. It would seem, now, that one-half
are doomed to die in the process of freeing the rest.
Our purpose is not to find fault, but to seek
for the remedy. Undoubtedly, Congress must take the
matter in hand, to mature plans of permanent relief;
but, judging from past experience, a good many months
will elapse before its final action, and there will
still remain a great deal that properly belongs to private
charity, and for which legislation cannot provide.
To meet the present exigency, and to prevent
or lessen the sufferings of the coming winter and spring,
we offer our humble but active services, asking no reward
of any kind, but the opportunity and encouragement to
work. Our experience for two and a-half years past,
in the sanitary cause of the sick and wounded, has taught
us the lessons of economy and prudence, and we are too
much accustomed to difficulties to be discouraged by
them. It may not be unbecoming in us to say, in recommending
ourselves for the work proposed, that in the two years
from October, 1861, to November, 1863, we have received
and expended for the sick and wounded of the Western
Army, in stores or money, to the amount of a million
and a quarter of dollars, and that the total expenses
of distribution, including all salaries and incidental
charges, has been but little in excess of one per
cent. For the manner in which the work has been
done, and the good results accomplished, we refer to
Major-Generals Grant, Sherman, Steele, Schofield, Curtis,
Fremont, and to the Commander-in-Chief, Major-General
Halleck. We also refer to Assistant Surgeon-General,
Col. R. C. Wood, and to all members of the Medical Staff
of the West, with whom and under whose direction we
have always worked.
We now respectfully ask permission and authority
to extend our labors to the suffering freed people of
the South-West and South. If you will give us your endorsement
in the undertaking before the people, we think we can
raise large sums of money, and accomplish great good.
Nor would it be only a work of philanthrophy, but equally
of patriotism, for it would remove an increasing reproach
against the Union cause, and by lessening the difficulties
of emancipation, would materially aid in crushing the
rebellion. At present, hundreds of the blacks would
gladly return to slavery, to avoid the hardships of
freedom; and if this feeling increases and extends itself
among them, all the difficulties of the situation will
be increased; while, at the same time, a most effective
argument is given to the disloyal against our cause.
We most respectfully leave the subject before
you, feeling sure that you will agree with us as to
the necessity of prompt and energetic action,
And have the-honor to remain,
Your cordial friends and obedient servants,
JAMES E. YEATMAN,
GEORGE PARTRIDGE,
JOHN B. JOHNSON,
CARLOS S. GREELEY,
WILLIAM G. ELIOT.
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