THE WORK OF OHIO IN THE U. S. SANITARY,

COMMISSION IN THE CIVIL WAR

By M. C. READ.

 

 

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MATTHEW CANFIELD READ was born in Williamsfield, Ashtabula county, Ohio,August 21, 1823, of New England parents, who were among the early pioneers. In those days of few books a circulating library of standard works gave him in his early boyhood a taste for solid reading, and a copy of Goldsmith's" Animated Nature," which at the age of ten years he had read and re-read till it was substantially memorized, exerted an important influence upon his subsequent studies; when twelve years of' age his parents removed to Mecca, Trumbull county, where he remained working upon the farm and attending district school until eighteen years of age, when he com­menced preparations for college at Western Re. serve Seminary, in Farmington, Trumbull county, which was completed at Grand River Institute, in Austinburgh, Ashtabula county. He entered the Freshman class of Western Reserve College, Hudson, in 1841, and graduated in 1848, subsequently receiving the degree of A.M.  from his Alma Mater.

 

The early bias given by  “Goldsmith's Animated Nature'” led him to devote much time during his preparatory and college course to the study of the natural sciences, and most of his leisure during  this time was occupied in acquiring a knowledge of the fauna and flora, and the geology of the neighborhood.  His vacations were given almost wholly to these studies, to which very little time was given in the prescribed course of study.  The knowledge thus obtained in hours which ordinarily go to waste with the college student, was fully as valuable to him in after life as the regular college course. After graduation he taught school in Columbus and in Gustavus, Ohio, and read law with Chappee & Woodbury, of Jefferson, Ashtabula county.

 

He was married August, 1851, to Orissa E. Andrews, youngest daughter of William Andrews, Esq., of Homer, N. Y., and soon after was called to Hudson to edit The .Family Visitor, published by Sawyer, Ingersoll & Co., and which was started by Profs. Kirtland and St. John, with the design of furnishing a family, scientific, and literary paper of a high order, containing nothing of the obnoxious matter found in many papers. During one year while editing this paper he had sole charge of the preparatory department of the Western Reserve College.  After he had edited the paper for a little over two years its publication was suspended because of the financial failure of the publishers.

 

He then commenced the practice of' his profession as attorney in Summit county, and had acquired a lucrative practice when the war of the Rebellion commenced. Soon after the organization of the United States Sanitary Commission he was appointed a. general relief agent in that organization by Prof. Newberry, who was in charge of the Western department, and continued in the service of the Commission till the close of the war.  A severe sunstroke after the battle of Pittsburgh Landing and subsequent exposure so impaired his health that he was never able to return to full practice in his profession. He served for a time as deputy-collector of internal revenue, and upon the organization of the geological survey of Ohio was appointed assistant geologist, and contributed largely to the final report. He has since done a large amount of work in the examination of mining property in the States and Territories and the Dominion of Canada, and contributed many articles to the scientific journals on ornithology, entomology, archaeology, geology, forestry, etc.  He had charge of the archaeological exhibits of Ohio at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and the Centennial Exposition at New Orleans. Quite a full report made by him of the latter has recently been published by the Historical  Society of Cleveland.  For several years before the removal of the Western Reserve College to Cleveland he held the position in that institution of Lecturer on Zoology and Practical Geology. He still maintains his position at the bar, doing as much work as his health will permit, dividing his time between the practice of law and scientific studies and pursuits.

 

THE history of Ohio's services in the war of the Rebellion would be incomplete without a sketch of its work in the United States Sanitary Commission.

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This was an organization proposed by some of the best medical men of the country, and at their request authorized by the general government.  Its primary object was the systematic inspection of camps and hospitals, for the purpose of aiding the medical department of the army in the adoption of such sanitary measures as would best preserve the health of the army and promote the recovery of the sick and wounded.

 

The part that Ohio took in this work assumed more prominence than that of any other of the Western States. This is to be attributed largely to the fact that the secretary selected to take charge of the Western department was a citizen of the State, and to his exceptional qualifications for the work.

 

Prof. John S. NEWBERRY, now of the School of Mines of Columbia College, in New York, and then in the government service at Washington, was appointed a member of the Sanitary Commission, June 13, 1861. He immediately resigned his position at Washington, returned to Ohio, and entered with characteristic earnestness and zeal upon his new work of extending the organization of the Commission over the valley of the Mississippi. He established branches of the Commission at Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, as well as others at Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburg, Chicago, Louisville, etc., and gave such unity and efficiency to the Commission's work that he was appointed secretary of the Western department, an office which he held with honor to himself and the Commission till  the end of the war. In the meantime, the patriotic revival that was carrying the best young and middle-aged men into the army was sweeping into its current almost all the woman of the North, who were organizing "Soldiers' Aid Societies" in all the cities, villages, and hamlets of the loyal States, for the purpose of preparing and collecting necessities, comforts, and luxuries for the soldiers in camp and hospital.  There was an urgent necessity of a general organization, which could gather all these rivulets and streams into one channel, and provide for their systematic and economical disposition. This work naturally devolved upon the Sanitary Commission-authorized by the government, national in its purposes, regardless of State lines, and solicitous only for the comfort and health of the entire army, and for its success in the struggle.

 

With the natural desire in each locality to collect and forward supplies to the soldiers enlisted in that locality, and of the officers of each State to make special provision for its own soldiers, it was a difficult task to educate the people into the idea that the soldiers of each regiment and of each State could be best cared for by systematic provision for the whole army.  This result was substantially accomplished through the skilful management of the secretary, aided by the unselfish patriotism of the managers of the local societies, so that the transporta­tion and distribution of these stores was mainly, and especially in Ohio, intrusted to this Commission.  Very rapidly an organization was perfected, some of the best and most experienced physicians selected, who were commissioned and dispatched to their work. Among the first of these were Dr. A. N. READ, Dr. W. M. PRENTICE, and Dr. C. D. GRISWOLD, all of Ohio, who immediately entered upon their duties-followed the army into the field, inspecting camps and hospitals, looking after the distribution of stores, and when battles occurred assisting in the care of the wounded.

 

 Other inspectors from Ohio were Drs. Henry PARRKER, of Lorain county, M. M. SEYMOUR, of Painesville, T. G. CLEVELAND, at first surgeon of the Forty-first O. V. I, and R. C. HOPKINS, of Cleveland. These all labored with a zeal and intelligent devotion to their duties which commanded the highest encomiums of the medical and general officers of the army.  Their work was of a delicate nature, requiring much tact and skill, and was of the greatest importance.  The medical and gen­eral officers had a very inadequate estimate of the importance of sanitary precautions for the preservation of the health of the men, and at the beginning the deaths from preventable diseases were many times in excess of those resulting from casualties in battle.

 

These medical inspectors, representing the best medical skill of the State, with their associates from other States, supplied with suggestive circulars prepared by the best medical men of the nation, furnished very material aid to the officers of the army in securing the adoption of sanitary precautions for the prevention of sickness, that resulted in saving the lives of many thousands of soldiers.  No

statistics can be compiled which will measure the value of this work, but those who watched its progress can to some extent appreciate it, and long before the close of the. war it secured the adoption of the best sanitary measures that were ever adopted in any army.

 

While the Commission was primarily organized for this sanitary work other important duty was rapidly crowded upon it. The women of the entire North were working for the soldiers, and societies were established in every city, with local societies auxiliary to them in every village and township.  This was particularly true in Ohio. Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus organized branches of the United States Sanitary Commission, and secured the greater part of the contributions of the local societies, assorting, re-packing, and marking them, and entrusting their distribution to the Commission.

 

The Branch at Cincinnati organized with the following members: Cincinnati-R. W. Burnett, Charles F. WILSTACH, James M.  JOHNSON, Joshua H. BATES, C. C. COMEGYS, M. D., Edward MEAD, M. D., Samuel L'HOMMEDIEU, M. D., Rev. E. T. COLLINS, A. AUB, O. M. MITCHELL, E. G. ROBBINS, J. B. STALLO, Larz ANDERSON, Micajah BAILEY, E. S. BROOKS, Charles E. CIST, David JUDKINS, M. D., W. H. MUSSEY, M. D., Rev. W. A. SNIVELEY, Henry PEARCE, Thomas G. ODIOME, Mark E. REEVES, B.  P. BAKER, Robert HOSEA, George HOADLY, S. J. BROADWELL, A. G. BURT, Charles R. FOSDICK, John DAVIS, M. D., George MENDENHALL, M. D., Rev. M. L. P. THOMPSON, George K. SHOENBERGER, Bellamy STORER, W. W. SCARBOROUGH, Thomas C. SHIPLEY, F. C. BRIGG Dayton-B. VV. STEEL, J. D. PHILLIPS, James McDANIEL.  President, R. W. BUNRETT; ; Vice-President, George HOADLEY, ; Recording  Secretary, B. P. BAKER; Corresponding Secretary, Charles R. FOSDICK; Treasurer, Henry PEARCE.

 

 This branch sent out inspectors and relief agents into all parts of the Mississippi valley occupied by the Union army, who kept its officers thoroughly in­formed as to the wants of the soldiers, and the manner in which its contributions were distributed. In addition to the large amount of stores contributed the society raised in money $330,769.53, of which $235,406.62 were the net avails of "The Great Western Sanitary Fair" held at Cincinnati in the month of Decem­ber, 1863.  The most of this large fund was used in the purchase of supplies of the best quality, which were sent to all parts of the army as the wants of the sick and wounded required. The United States Sanitary Commission contributed to this branch $15,000.

 

The success of the fair of 1863 was at the time unprecedented.  At the head of the roll of managers was the name of General ROSECRANS, and nearly all the prominent ladies, businessmen and merchant princes of the city combined their efforts to make it a success.

 

This branch established and maintained at Cincinnati a "Soldiers' Home" at an expense of $64,131.86, in which it furnished lodgings to 45,400 and meals to the number of 656,704.

 

The Cleveland Branch of the Soldier’s Aid Society of Northern Ohio  was organized on the 20th day of April, 1861, five days after the first call by President Lincoln for volunteers to put down the rebellion. It was organized by the appointment of the following, officers: President, Airs. B. ROUSE ; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. John SHELLEY and Mrs. Wm. MEELHINCH; Secretary, Miss Mary Clark BRAYTON; Treasurer, Miss Ellen F. TERRY.

 

Two hundred arid seventy-nine of the Cleveland ladies enrolled themselves as members of the society, and without constitution or by-laws, with only the verbal pledge of the payment of a monthly fee, and to work while the war should last, they furnished an illustrious example of the patriotism, as well as the efficiency of Ohio women. The officers of the society gave their whole time to the work until the close of the war, asking and receiving no salaries and drawing nothing from the treasury for travelling or other expenses, even when absent on the necessary business of the society. They secured the active .and cordial support of 525 auxiliary societies, the members of most of them meeting weekly to work for the soldier. And the influence of that work is not to be measured by the articles prepared or the gifts contributed.

 

Every such local society was a school of patriotism: it made patriotism the fashion ; everywhere the wives and daughters of the most bitter opponents of the

war were drawn into these societies, caught the dominant spirit, and carried its influence into their homes. These societies gave a moral support to the soldier in the field, and were worth more than thousands of bayonets in preserving peace at home. The names of the women engaged in the work of this central society and its 500 auxiliaries who deserve prominent mention would fill many pages of this volume, and it would be unjust to the others to record the names of a part of them; but all will concur in giving the first place to good Mrs. ROUSE, the president of the society, who in feeble health and with a devotion that only a mother can exhibit gave her whole time to the work; a model example of womanly Christian patriotism. Her recent death at a ripe old age has emphasized her worth.

 

In June a number of the most patriotic and influential citizens of Cleveland were appointed associate members of the United States Sanitary Commission, and in October of the same year they united to organize a branch commission for the accomplishment of the same objects that engaged the attention of the branches elsewhere, and to lend to the already flourishing Soldiers' Aid Society whatever aid might be necessary in the execution of its work. The gentlemen who joined in this movement are as follows:

 

T. P. HANDY, Joseph PERKINS, William BINGHAM, M. C. YOUNGLOVE, Stillman WITT, Benjamin ROUSE, Dr. E. CUSHING, A. STONE, Jr., E. S. FLINT, Dr. A. MAYNARD.

 

The first duty which suggested itself to them was to provide a military hospital for Northern Ohio, which should receive the sick of the regiments quartered at Cleveland for whom no other asylum had been opened. By application to the Secretary of the Treasury a part of the marine hospital at Cleveland was placed at their command. This was fitted up by the co-operation of the ladies of the Aid Society, and continued to meet the wants of the class it was intended to accommodate until the building of the Cleveland Soldiers' Home removed the necessity for its continuance (see Dr. Newberry's report on the Sanitary Commission in the valley of the Mississippi).  These gentlemen co-operated heartily with the ladies in their work and contributed largely to its success. In addition to those whose names are given above Dr. NEWBERRY makes special mention of Mr. L. M. HUBBY, president of the C. C. & Q. R. R. Co., and Mr. H. M. CHAPIN, who were especially active and efficient.

 

The general work of this society is admirably and concisely stated in the following extract from the final report of its officers:

 

The foregoing pages are a brief sketch of the work that loyalty prompted one small district to do for the soldiers. They are submitted in the hope it may not be uninteresting to trace the history of a society which was the first permanently organized, one of the first to enter the field, and the last to leave it; which began with a capital of two gold dollars and closed with a cash statement of more than $170,000; which grew from a neighborhood sewing circle to become the representative of 525 branch organizations in disbursing hospital stores valued at nearly $1,000,000; which built and supported a Soldiers' Home and conducted a special relief system and an employment agency from which 60,000 Union soldiers, and their families received aid and comfort, and a claim agency which gratuitously collected war claims aggregating $300,000 at a saving to the claimants of over $17,000.

 

The ladies close their report with the following words:

 

All who had a part in the beneficent work in which it was woman's peculiar privilege to serve her country must feel abundantly rewarded in having been able to do something for those who gave health, manly strength, worldly prospects, ties of home, and even life itself in the more perilous service in the field. As already sweet flowers and tender plants creep over and half conceal the battle foot-prints, but lately left on many a field and hillside of our land, so sweet charities and tender memories come to envelop the gaunt figures, and veil the grim visages of war, that must forever stand a central object upon the canvas at protrays the history of these memorable years.

 

A single instance may be added illustrating the efficiency and devotion of these noble workers in the Soldiers' Home established at the railroad station in

Cleveland. On the 29th of July, 1864, telegrams announced that a full brigade of hungry soldiers would reach the Home that night; special preparations were immediately made for their comfort, and when after long hours of weary waiting the train steamed into the depot bringing the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Wisconsin and the Twenty-seventh Michigan, 1,350 men, a sumptuous repast was awaiting them, which would have been a credit to any of the hotels of the city.  In the memory of these men and of the many thousands of others who were thus provided for, the good works of these Cleveland women are permanently enshrined.

 

The Columbus Branch was organized in October, 1861, with the following members:

 

Governor Wm. DENNISON, F. C. SESSIONS, J. B. THOMPSON, M. D., S. M. SMITH, M. D., P. AMBOS, Robert NEIL, Rev. Dr. FITZGERALD, W. M. AWL, M. D., T. J. WORMLEY M.  D.. S. LOVERING, M. D., J. H. RILEY, Rev. Joseph M. TRIMBLE, D. D. Hon. John W. ANDREWS, Joseph SULLIVANT, Francis CARTER, M. D., Francis COLLINS, Officers: President, W. M. AWL, M. D.; Vice-President, J. B. THOMSPON, M. D.; Secretary, F. C. SESSIONS; Treasurer, T. J. WORMLEY, M D.

 

Five thousand dollars was appropriated to this branch by the United States Sanitary Commission, and several thousand dollars was subsequently contributed to aid in the equipment and maintenance of the Soldiers' Home. In co-operation with this branch a Ladies' Aid Society was organized embracing most of the patriotic women of the city, with Mrs. W. E. IDE as the first president and Mrs. George W. HEYL the first secretary. The records of the amount of contributions of this branch are not accessible, but they found their way to nearly every battle-field and hospital in the Mississippi valley.  Mr. SESSIONS was early in the field as a volunteer in the care of the sick and wounded, and continued his labors to the close of the war.

 

Dr. SMITH was subsequently surgeon-general of the State, and from the beginning to the close of the war was an indefatigable and judicious worker. The location of this branch gave it an unusual amount of local work, which was always efficiently and faithfully done.  Here as well as elsewhere in the State the names of those deserving special mention cannot be given without the appro­priation of more space than can be given to this sketch.

 

By the work of local societies, the aid of sanitary fairs, and the labor of soliciting agents, a corps of whom were organized and put in the field by Dr. NEWBERRY, the supplies came in continuous streams and the Commission received in the aggregate $807,335.03 in money and stores for distribution of the estimated value of $5,123,376. At first there was a natural tendency in each locality to provide for regiments organized in the locality, and then to attempt in each State to provide for the soldiers of that State; some continuing this attempt to the close of the war.  But it was soon seen by those in the field that the readiest way to pro­vide for any particular regiment was by a united attempt to provide for all.

 

Ohio was quick to learn this fact, and the broad patriotism of its people was shown by an almost universal disregard of localities and State lines, and by devoting all their energies to the relief of the Union soldier wherever found.  Its contributions to this end largely exceeded those of any other State in the Mississippi valley, a fact in which every citizen may take laudable pride.

 

 

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safety, would send to this bureau for information, and sometimes these inquiries by letter and telegram would number hundreds in a day. If in the hospital or on the list of killed a reference to the records would furnish full information; if not the inquiry was forwarded to the agent of the post where the regiment was stationed.  The records there were searched and if they afforded no information the regiment was immediately visited, the companions of the missing man found and questioned, and in a large majority of cases the desired information obtained. Under Mr. HOLBROOK'S excellent management this work was so perfected that these records were largely used by the officers of the army in locating or determining the fate of missing men. The number of names on Mr. HOLBROOK'S records was 799,317; the number of deaths recorded 81,621, and the number of inquiries received and answered 24,005. Mr. HOLBROOK with the persevering industry of a man and the overflowing sympathy of a woman was admirably adapted to this work, but it wore him out faster than service in the field, and though able to keep his post till the close of the war, its close found him so pros­trated and exhausted that his health was never perfectly restored.

 

The personnel of the central office at Louisville was as follows:

 

Secretary Western Department Sanitary Commission, Dr. J. S. NEWBERRY: assistant secretary, Robert T. THRONE; chief clerk, Dr. N. E. SOULE; cashier, C. S. SILL; superintendent hospital directory, H. S. HOLBOOK; superintendent ware­houses, W. S. HANFORD; editor Sanitary Reporter, Dr. G. L. ANDREW; hospital visitor, Rev. F. H. BUSHNELL;  superintendent hospital trains, Dr. J. P. BARNUM; superintendent hospital and supply steamer, H. AV. FOGLE; claim agent, H. H. BURKHOLDER. Of these officers Drs. NEWBERRY and SOULE and Messrs. SILL, HOLBROOK, HANFORD, FOGLE and BURNHOLDER were from Ohio.

 

Free transportation over freight and express lines was generously given for the stores of the Commission, and the free use of private and military telegraph lines to all its agents who had depots of stores at every important host, and whose agents with supplies were present on nearly every battle-field. It established feeding stations and Soldiers' Homes so as to supply all the wants of the soldiers discharged at the most southern point reached by the army until he reached his home, in which also the friends of the soldier found ample accommodations.  As an illustration of the extent and the benefits of these Homes one instance may be given: A woman from Central New York made her way to Chattanooga, Tenn., to visit her sick husband, but reached the place too late to see him alive.  Her money was exhausted, for she expected to obtain from her husband means for her return.  A childless widow who had given her all to the country she could not bear to leave the remains of her husband on her return home.  An appeal was made by the agent of the Commission to the military undertaker who had a lucrative business at that post, who readily consented to embalm the body and furnish a burial case without charge, and the express company forwarded it to its destination without charge.  The agent furnished her with free transportation over the military roads to Louisville, and open letters to the superintendents of the Homes and to the railroad conductors stating the facts of her case and soliciting their interest in her behalf.  At the Homes in Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Buffalo she obtained meals, and lunches to take into the cars; the conductors passed her free over their roads, and she reached Syra­cuse, N. Y., with the body of her husband and without any expense.

 

An important work new in military history was inaugurated, and made a marked success by the Ohio men in the Commission. When the Army of the Cumberland had raised the siege of Chattanooga, and in the winter of 1864 was preparing for a vigorous, aggressive campaign, it was evident the army was likely to suffer severely during the coming summer for the want of vegetable food.  It could not be brought to so distant a point from the Northern States, and no dependence could be placed upon the adjacent country for a supply. Scurvy had prevailed to an alarming degree in this army during the previous summer when stationed at Murfreesboro, much nearer the base of supplies.  An experi­ment had there been made in gardening, under the management of Mr. HARRIMAN, a gardener detailed from the One-hundred-and-first O. V. I. in 1863, which was so far successful as to warrant, in the opinion of the agent at Chattanooga, more extensive effort in 1864, and commensurate with the increased necessities of the

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army. He immediately conferred with the medical director of the army, Dr. PERRIN, and proposed with his co-operation and the approval of the commanding general, to establish a sanitary garden of sufficient extent to provide for all the probable wants of the sick and wounded.

 

The proposition was heartily welcomed as a probable solution of what had been regarded as an insolvable problem. He immediately approved a proposi­tion prepared by the agent for submission to Gen. THOMAS, proposing that if the general would authorize the Commission to take possession of abandoned lauds suitable for cultivation, would provide for the protection of the garden, and furnish horses and necessary details of men, the Commission would provide a good market-garden, tools, seeds, and appliances for the work, and would undertake to supply all the hospitals at Chattanooga and the neighboring posts with all the vegetables needed, distributing the surplus to convalescent camps and regiments.

 

The general at once issued the necessary orders for carrying on the work; a body of land between Citico creek and the Tennessee river was selected, a detail put to work building a fence, so as to include within it and the two streams something over 150 acres, and a requisition forwarded to Dr. NEWBERRY for seeds and tools. When these arrived application was made for horses, and it was learned that there were none at the post that could be spared for the work. An advertisement was inserted in the Chattanooga papers for the purchase of horses and mules, but none were offered.  Then authority was obtained to impress from the country.  The agent scoured the neighboring territory for some twenty miles on all sides of Chattanooga without finding anything to impress.

 

Returning somewhat discouraged from his last trip, he stumbled upon a corral of sick and disabled horses, and the difficulty was at once overcome. An order was secured directing the quartermaster to turn over fifty of these horses selected by the Commission and as many harnesses.  There was no difficulty in finding horses unfit for military duty which would do fairly good work before the plow or harrow. They were put promptly at work. But during these delays the season had so far advanced that more tools were needed than were sent from Louisville.  To meet this want some were impressed from the country and others made to order by the quartermaster; and soon the fifty horses and nearly a hun­dred men were actively employed under the supervision of Mr. Thomas WILLS, of Summit county, who was sent by Dr. NEWBERRY as head gardener.  The work was hushed with energy during the whole season, much of the ground being made to yield two three crops, all the articles raised in an ordinary market garden being cultivated.  It happened that wagons were employed distributing the products to the hospitals on the day that the first of the wounded from the Atlanta campaign arrived, and from that time till the close of the season the supply was much in excess of all the wants of the hospitals, the large surplus being distributed to convalescent camps and regiments.  As the season advanced the details of men fit for duty in the field were revoked, and details made from the convalescent camps:  These men, placed in good quarters, abundantly supplied with vegetables, and moderately worked, were restored to health much faster than those left in the camps.  The men were so well pleased with their position and their work that the prospect of a revoking of their detail for any insubordination secured strict discipline.  At the close of the season voluntary testimonials were furnished by all the surgeons in charge of the hospitals of the great value of the work, and that it had been the means of saving the lives of thousands. The details for a guard and for work constituted as efficient part of the garrison of the post as if left within the camps, and there was with them an almost entire exemption from sickness.  The horses from the sick corrals, well fed and cared for, rapidly recovered. and the whole practical cost was the price of seeds and tools, and the salary of the gardener.  The fact was demonstrated that, at a military post, when a garrison is to be maintained through the summer, an abundance of vegetable food can be raised by the garrison without any impairment of its efficiency and at a very trifling cost.

 

At the urgent request of all the surgeons of the post the general ordered a con­tinuance of the work during the following year.

 

 

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agents were everywhere—in hospitals, in camps, and on the battle-fields—co-operating with the medical officers in the care of the sick and wounded, and in precautions for preserving the health of the men; and the voluntary testimonials of the officers, surgeons, and privates to the value of their work would fill a volume. What is reproachfully called "red tape" in the army is system, method, a careful scrutiny of expenditures, without which the richest nation would be bankrupted by a short war; its hardships in individual cases are mitigated and almost entirely removed by such a voluntary association as the Sanitary Com­mission, with its agents in all parts of the army, harmoniously working with the medical officers, and provided with supplies of all kinds for the relief of the soldiers, which can be promptly distributed without formal requisitions, simply on the request of the surgeon and attendants, or wherever a needy soldier is found by the agents. They supplement the government supplies, and are a provision for every emergency when the government stores are not available or cannot be obtained in time.

 

This is a brief and imperfect sketch of the work of the United States Sanitary Commission in the Mississippi valley, in which the citizens of Ohio took so hon­orable and important a part.

 

First in the list of workers stands the name of Prof. John S. NEWBERRY, who had general charge of the Western department. The entire work of organization and general superintendence was his, the selection of all agents, and the determination of all their duties and salaries.

 

Before the war he had a national reputation as a geologist and palaeontoligist, and at its close returned to his favorite studies. He was appointed chief geolo­gist for Ohio, and, with the aid of his assistants, prepared a report upon the geology of the State, alike creditable to him and to his assistants and to the State.

 

He was, while engaged in this work, elected as Professor of Geology and Palaeontology in the School of Mines of Columbia College, New York, a position which he now occupies. His scientific labors have given him not only an American but also an European reputation as one of the most prominent scientists of the age. The following extract from a recent number of an influential English periodical shows the estimation in which he is held in that country:

 

"A large circle of admirers, both English and American, will see with pleasure that the MURCHIRSON medal of the Geological Society is to he conferred this year an Dr. J. S. NEWBERRY, of New York, the well-known professor of Columbia Col­lege.  Dr. NEWBERRY, however, has been in his time active, and indeed distin­guished in other matters besides geology. ‘I remember,’ writes a correspondent, 'meeting him by chance in Nashville in November, 1863, when he was at the head of the Western department of the Sanitary Commission, an immense organization, whose business it was to dispense for the benefit of the soldiers of the Republic great quantities of stores, consisting mainly of medicines, clothing; and comforts of all sorts subscribed by enthusiastic citizens of the Northern States  Dr. NEWBERRY took me down with him from Nashville to the then seat of war on the boundary of Georgia, and I can bear witness to the workmanlike manner in which administered his department, and the devotion with which lie was regarded  by all of his assistants.’"

 

Dr.  NEWBERRY'S office assistants were Charles SILL, of Cuyahoga Falls, treasurer; H. S. HOLBROOK, of Cuyahoga Falls, in charge of the hospital directory; H. M. FOGEL, clerk, and W. S. HANSFORD, in charge of transportation, both also of Cuya­hoga Falls; others were employed from time to time as clerks, but these remained his office till the close of the war. Mr. SILL and Mr. FOGEL are now deceased. Mr. HOLBROOK retired from his work greatly debilitated, and never recovered his health.

 

Of  the medical inspectors, Dr. A. N. READ, of Norwalk, leaving a lucrative practice, entered the service in Kentucky when our army first crossed into that State was almost the sole representative of the Commission at the battle of Perrysville, followed the army to Nashville and Pittsburg Landing, and afterwards returned to Nashville, and made that his headquarters as chief inspector and general manager of the work of the Commission in the Army of the Cumberland. followed the army to Chattanooga, worked assiduously in care of the

wounded in the battle of Chickamauga until, prostrated with sickness, he was compelled to return home with his son, who was severely wounded in that battle, to recruit his health by rest. He soon returned to his headquarters at Nashville, and gave his general superintendence to the work, proceeding to the front at the commencement of the Atlanta campaign, and accompanying the army to Atlanta. His work during all that campaign was severe and exhausting, and returning to Nashville, he continued his labors to the close of the war, when he returned home so prostrated by exposure and fatigue that his health has never since been fully restored.  He received many voluntary testimonials from the officers of the army, for the fidelity, skill, and tact with which he discharged the duties of his position.

 

Dr. M. M.  PRENTICE, an eminent physician of Cleveland, commenced his work as medical inspector early in the war, and followed it with such a self-sacrificing fidelity that his health and strength failed him, and he died at his post while the issue of the war was uncertain. Henry PARKER, of Lorain county, and M. M. SEYMOUR, of Painesville, eminent physicians, abandoned their practice and assumed the duties of medical in­spectors, which they discharged with eminent success till the close of the war.

 

Dr. T. G. CLEVELAND, previously surgeon of the Forty-first Ohio regiment, entered the service of the Commission as medical inspector in 1861, and continued his work with marked ability till the close of the war.

 

Dr. R. C. HOPKINS, of Cleveland, entered the service as medical officer of the relief steamer "Lancaster," chartered by Dr. NEWBERRY for the transport of stores and the sick and wounded, and afterwards took charge of the work of the Com­mission at Memphis. His wife accompanied him until he was prostrated by overwork and on his way home died at Evansville, Ind., January 26, 1863.  Mrs. HOPKINS sought relief from her affliction by a return to the work and continued it at Nashville until her services were no longer needed.

 

Prof. H. N. HOSFORD of Hudson, Rev. N. P. BAILEY of Painesville, Rev. J. E. WILSON of Ravenna and Mr. George G. CARTER of Cleveland, who was then a student of theology, labored efficiently and faithfully as hospital visitors. Their duties were to visit daily the hospitals of the posts at which they were stationed, promote the general comfort of the patients, write their letters, furnish them reading, administer religious consolation to the dying and transmit their last messages to their friends. Many in their dying hours blessed them for their timely Christian labors and many who recovered will remember with gratitude their faithful and unselfish work.

 

F. R. CRARY, of Northern Ohio, early entered the service as storekeeper and general relief agent; followed the Army of the Cumberland to Chattanooga and was one of the field relief corps during the Atlanta campaign. Energy, faithfulness and enthusiastic devotion characterized his work. .

 

William COWDERY, then of Hudson, now of Mecca, Trumbull county, rendered faithful and valuable work at Chattanooga for about a year.

 

 Alfred H. SILL  was sent to Chattanooga by Dr. NEWBERRY after the battle of Chickamauga. The rebels occupied the left bank of the Tennessee river and their sharpshooters made it impracticable to use the short road from Bridgeport to Chattanooga for the transportation of supplies, and a mountain road, difficult and some sixty miles long, was the best practicable route. Sanitary stores in wagons attached to the army trains were sometimes pillaged by teamsters and train hands. Mr. SILL came at the request of the general agent at Chattanooga for an energetic man, courageous and faithful, who would act as special guard of the Sanitary train, could sleep in the woods with a blanket for his bed, keep the train under his direct observation till it reached Chattanooga, and shoot down if necessary any man who attempted to plunder it.  This work he continued without complaint, riding backward and forward over this long, dreary and dangerous route, until the opening of transportation by rail and river after the battle of Chattanooga.

 

M. C. READ, an attorney of Hudson, Ohio, left a lucrative practice in February, 1862, and joined his brother, Dr. A. N. READ, in the work at Nashville; worked there for a short time and accompanied his brother to Pittsburg Landing, when he was assigned to duty at Hamburgh Landing, a few miles further up the river.

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Here, while superintending the removal of stores, from the landing to the rooms of the Commission, he was prostrated by a sunstroke and compelled to return home. A few weeks in the Lake Superior region so far restored his health that he was able to return to Nashville, and was put in charge of the work at Murfreesboro; thence he followed General ROSECRANS' army to Bridgeport and finally reached Chattanooga in company with General ROSECRANS and his staff. Here he remained in charge of the work at this post until after Lee's surrender. He then returned home and rode over Ohio and West Virginia, selecting in all the principal cities Sanitary Commission Claim Agents, who were commissioned to collect claims and secure pensions for all soldiers applying to them, without charge to the soldier. This closed his work, except a short return to Chattanooga, to close out some unfinished business there. The effects of the sunstroke and subsequent labor and exposure have ever since seriously interfered with his professional work.

 

Jeremiah R. BROWN, of Hudson, a brother of the famous John BROWN, entered the service early in the war, and very appropriately was put in charge of the work in Kansas, where he labored with distinguished zeal and ability, assisted by his daughter Fanny BROWN, until the work of the Commission was closed.

 

 Thomas WILLS, then of Cuyahoga Falls, was sent to Chattanooga in the spring of 1864 as superintendent of the Sanitary garden.  This position he held until, the end of the summer of 1865, and the remarkable success of the garden was largely due to his skill and fidelity.

 

Dr. George L. STARR, of Hudson, after completion of his medical studies, entered the service of the Commission at Knoxville, Tenn., and did good work for about four months investigating the wants of posts accessible from that point and sup­plying them from the storehouse in that city. He afterwards practised his profession in Youngstown and is now in successful practice in Hudson. Rev. T. Y. GARDINER, of Cleveland, was also engaged for some time in the work at Knoxville as general agent, doing excellent service and accompanying General STONEMAN on his raid to care for the sick and wounded. He has since been a successful preacher in the Congregational Church.

 

Charles SEYMOUR, son of Prof. N. P. SEYMOUR of Western Reserve College, was engaged in the work at Knoxville; was in all things efficient and faithful. He  became so much attached to the place that he remained in Knoxville after the close of the war as a real estate agent, has secured a wide influence in the neighboring country, and has made his business profitable to himself and his employers.  Captain Isaac BRAYTON, of Ravenna, early entered the service of the Commission, followed the Army of the Cumberland to Murfreesboro, was for a time in charge of that post, until transferred to Nashville as superintendent of the Soldiers' Home established there.  This position he filled with great ability until the Home was no longer needed.

 

Colonel Charles WHITTLESEY, of Cleveland, well known in scientific circles, did efficient service as special relief agent in all parts of the West, employed especially in the emergencies following important battles

 

.Dr. R. BRUNDERET, of Dayton, remained in the service during most of the war and mainly in the Army of the Cumberland. He was one of the most valuable workers, doing everything well and at the right time.

 

 

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The, medical director for notice to be sent by the Courier line of the time of starting of each train and the number of sick and wounded in it, so that a warm meal could be in readiness for them on their arrival. Mr. KENNEDY, with a few assistants, took charge of this solitary station in the mountains, liable constantly to be raided by bushwhackers, and from that time until after the siege of Chattanooga was raised, provided all the sick and wounded who crossed the mountains with an ample meal, no matter at what hour of the day or night they reached the station. Also, many a belated or hungry officer and soldier returning to the army has had reason to bless this lodge in the wilderness.  After the opening of the river and railroad he established feeding-stations at Kelley's Ferry and Bridgeport, and for the most of the time was in charge of one of them.  Of a benediction is bestowed for the giving of a cup of cold water to the thirsty, certainly he shall not lose his reward.

 

John H. MILLIKAN, of Kirtland, and a brother-in-law of Mr. HOWE, so long the efficient superintendent of the Reform Farm, and for some time one of the elder brothers in that institution, served the Commission long and faithfully, until he died at his host in Knoxville in 1864. Nor should Mr. Place, whose first name is not now recalled, a private of the One-hundred-and-fifth O. V. I., be forgotten. When his regiment reached Murfreesboro he was detailed for work with the Commission at that point, and was so faithful and efficient that his detail was continued and only revoked at Chattanooga that he might join his regiment to muster out of the service.

 

Dr. H. A. WARRINER was a professor in Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, when he entered the service of the Commission, discharging varied duties with the highest degree of ability and industry. After the capture of Vicksburg he was for a time General Superintendent of the work at that post and until he became the editor of the Sanitary Reporter, published at Louisville, Ky., which was the official. paper of the Western Department of the Commission, and executed a potent influence in promoting its efficiency.  After the close of the war he undertook the task of collating the records of all the posts of the Western Department and the preparation of an official history of its work.  With characteristic devotion he applied himself to this task until physical and mental prostration compelled him to abandon it, and, exhausted and worn out by the work for the Commission, he died in the prime of manhood.

 

Dr. N. E. SOULE was a teacher in Cincinnati when the war commenced, and soon after its commencement entered the service of the Commission. He was made chief clerk in the central office of the Commission at Louisville, where during the entire war he rendered most efficient assistance to the secretary and the heads of the different departments of the Commission's work, and by his ripe scholarship and genial manners won the respect and affection of all his associates, Rev. G. C. CARTER of Cleveland, in addition to his duties as hospital visitor, already mentioned, rendered important service as general relief agent.

 

In the spring of 1863 a Free Claim Agency was opened by the Sanitary Commission at Louisville and soon began to demonstrate its usefulness by becoming the medium of communication with the government for white and colored soldiers who were both poor and ignorant and who, with the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers, constituted as worthy objects of charity as the Sanitary Commission at any time took under its care. This agency was placed in charge of Mr. H. H. BURKHOLDER, previously a resident of, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and it continued with increased usefulness till the autumn of 1865, when the organization of the Western Department of the Sanitary Commission was broken up and the care of the office was assumed by the Kentucky branch. Mr. BURKHOLDER'S good work was prolonged beyond the close of the war, and in his report made July 1, 1867,  he had received 1575 claims, of which 660 had been allowed and $99,765.89 paid over to the claimants.  Soon after a terrible tragedy ended at once he life and good work of Mr. BURKHOLDER.  Returning from Cincinnati with his young wife their steamer was burned and both were lost.

 

The various aid societies and branches of the Commission sent many delegates to work with the agents of the Commission, whose services were of great value, but a list of their names cannot be here given, as it has been found impossible in

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all cases to distinguish between the workers from Ohio and other Western States. The papers and records of the Western department are practically inaccessible, being stored in New York. If they were collected and published the evidence of the magnitude and importance of the work would surprise even those who took the most prominent part in it, who, like the soldiers of a single regiment in a great battle, could see but little except that in which they were engaged. It will be seen by this sketch that Ohio furnished much more than her share of workers in the Commission. Of these many gave up their lives in the work, and of the residue quite as large a number returned to their homes with health permanently broken, or greatly impaired, as from the rank and file of the army. Many of them if in the regular service would secure pensions from the govern­ment, but no provision has been made for this and not one has asked any pecuniary compensation for the loss of health resulting from his exposure and labors.

 

If, as is probable, the names of regular employees of the Commission who were citizens of Ohio are omitted from this sketch, prepared by one of their co-workers, it is hoped that the omission will be pardoned, as reliance has to be placed mainly upon memory, and the dominant spirit of ill the workers was to ignore State lines, so that in many cases the memory recalls the work that each did and not the State from which he came.

 

Those who may be interested in investigating further the part taken by Ohio in the great work of the Sanitary Commission will find much more than we have splice for in this brief sketch in the final report of Dr. NEWBERRY, which forms a handsome volume of 543 pages, 8vo., entitled "The United States Sanitary Com­mission in the Valley of the Mississippi," published by Fairbanks & Benedict, Cleveland, in 1871, and which has been of invaluable use in the preparation of this sketch.

 

________________

 

Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY requests the publishers to give at the end of this article the following testimonial of his sense of the eminent services of its author in the work of the Sanitary Commission. This we are pleased to do, from the conviction that it is fully deserved.

 

"Among the thousands of devoted men and women who gave their time. their strength and their hearts to the work of the Sanitary Commission, and who by their contributions and ministrations to the army in the field, and by inspiring and maintaining the patriotism of the people at home, hastened and perhaps se­cured the final triumph, none rendered to the cause of humanity and liberty more faithful and efficient service than my friend and co-laborer, Mr. M. C. READ.  "On the roll of honor left by them to the gratitude of posterity in, the list of those who by achievement and sacrifice 'deserved well of their country,' his name should have a prominent place.                                                                                                                                                                          J. S. Newberry