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CHAPTER VI.

The supply-work of the North-Western Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission.-Volunteer aid of the press.-Necessities for supplies at dépôts in advance of battles.-Result of earnest work and thorough organization.-Wisconsin Aid Society.-Mrs. Colt.-Michigan Branch U. S. Sanitary Commission.-Miss Campbell.-Iowa Branch.-Mrs. T. E. Simpson, Minnesota North-Western Branch Aid Societies.Incidents of alleged misappropriations of stores at Mount Carroll.— Self-sacrifice and heroism of north-western women illustrated by striking incidents.-The manual labor of women to permit men to enlist. Labors in aid. societies.-Soldiers' rests and homes.Female nurses.

IMMEDIATELY after our return from Washington, Mrs. Livermore and myself undertook the thorough organization of the supply-work of the North-Western Sanitary Commission. We wrote stimulating circulars, opened a vigorous correspondence with the aid societies within the bounds. of the Commission, and organized large numbers of new societies.

Where circumstances required it, we made personal visits to individual or county aid societies. We furnished articles for the daily press and religious weeklies. These were published gratuitously, thus giving us the benefit of their extensive circulation. The value of such contributions in kind, can scarcely be estimated. The liberality of the press not only saved to the Commission thousands of dollars, but

added greatly to the popularity of the organization, and carried the news of what home-workers were doing to the army, where these papers were distributed in large numbers by the various Commissions.

Heretofore the North-Western Commission had relied chiefly on the spontaneous contributions of the people, largely stimulated by reports of sanguinary battles. This dependence on spasmodic benevolence proved to be inadequate to its wants. The dépôts of the Commission, near the scene of action, must be kept well supplied, to be ready for emergencies. This could not be the case, if these very exigencies were the stimulants to draw forth the supplies.

At the battle of Stone River, which took place the 31st of December, and 1st and 2d of January, 1863, our loss in wounded was over 7,000, and the rebel loss 10,000. This battle occurred very shortly after our return from Washington, and the treasury and shelves of the Commission were empty. The news arrived on Saturday, and it was only by the great exertions of our President, who appealed to the Board of Trade, and the liberal response of some of Chicago's citizens to our earnest pleading, that car-loads of supplies were sent forward to the scene of action the day following. From that time, the treasury of the North-Western Commission never failed; her supply-work rapidly enlarged.

To the energy and efficiency of Mrs. H. L. Colt, of Milwaukee, Secretary of Soldiers' Aid Society of Wisconsin, the Commission is deeply indebted for the thorough organization and continued supplies from Wisconsin. Miss Valeria Campbell, the head of the Sanitary Commission work in Michigan, was a faithful and able co-worker with the North-Western

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Branch till 1864, when the Michigan Commission became an independent branch, reporting to Dr. Newberry.

Northern Indiana sent us handsome contributions, and Minnesota, in the midst of her own Indian troubles, with her sparse population, sent, through Mrs. T. E. Simpson, the motive power of sanitary operations in that State, fortyseven packages in two months, from Winona alone.

Iowa, during the war, contributed to the Branch Commission at Chicago over fifty thousand dollars in money, and five thousand packages of supplies; Michigan, while tributary to the Commission at Chicago, almost eight thousand. dollars in money, and five thousand two hundred and sixtyfour boxes. Wisconsin sent between seven and eight thousand boxes, and almost nine thousand dollars to the NorthWestern Branch at Chicago. Where all did so nobly, as these figures show, comparisons would be invidious. Still, even on this "Roll of Honor," Iowa stands conspicuous. 'Tis simple justice to record that she was the banner sanitary State in the North-West, as I believe her military record will prove she was in enlistments in proportion to her population. Her contributions and efforts were amazing for the benefit of sick soldiers, under her able, enthusiastic, and veteran leader, Rev. D. Norris; and she also sent large gifts to the Western Sanitary Commission at St. Louis, and the Christian Commission, in the latter part of the war, through their widelyknown representative, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer.

As will be seen at a glance, this Commission became a power in the Western Department of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. From November 1, 1861, to December 1, 1862, the amount of money received in the Chicago North

Western Branch, during a period of thirteen months, had been twenty thousand dollars, and the number of packages (5,000) five thousand. From December, 1862, immediately after the Council at Washington, to the close of the Commission, a period of two years and a half, the amount paid into the treasury was ($311,000) three hundred and eleven thousand dollars; and supplies during the same period to the amount of almost, if not quite, a million of money were contributed. These supplies were carefully appraised at a cash valuation, at the respective dates of their receipt.

In our frequent journeys throughout the North-West, to complete the organization we had planned and eventually accomplished, we had rare opportunities of seeing and esti mating the value of the work of the WOMEN OF THE PRAIRIES, both in labor and sacrifice. The aid societies. depended greatly for their efficiency on the officers controlling them. With few exceptions they were wisely chosen, and succeeded in developing and organizing the vast amount of the patriotism and humanity of the women, who labored with them.

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They met ordinarily once during the week at the schoolhouse, lecture-room, or dwelling of the president, if no suitable place could be found. Committees were appointed to prepare and give out work, to procure funds, make purchases, cut out clothing, and pack and forward boxes. The officers were sometimes chosen annually, sometimes quarterly. The variety of the devices of these societies to raise money for the benefit of the Commission, would form a unique and entertaining history. Sometimes the money was sent to the North-Western Commission, and sometimes

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expended in material to be made into garments, or supplies to be sent to us.

The great barriers to the prosperity of these aid societies, were the charges of squandered and misappropriated stores. These unwarrantable attacks were sometimes made by surgeons discharged for incompetency, or returned soldiers who had never been in hospital, and had thus no opportunity of seeing the work of the Commission, or of those who had received its blessings, and knew not the source from whence they came.

A case in point: Mrs. W., president of an aid society in Dixon-a prominent town in Illinois-and one of the most faithful workers in the State, related to me the following incident: Her son, who had returned home on sick furlough, said, to his mother, "I never received any Sanitary stores when I was in the hospital." "Did you receive no green tea and white sugar, or codfish, or eggs, or farina?" "Yes, I did; but no canned fruits, lemons, jellies, or clothing." Said she: "All that you have enumerated were doubtless furnished by the Commission." At night, when he had taken his bath, and thrown aside his soiled under-garments, she gathered them up and found them all marked "NorthWestern Sanitary Commission; " yet so silently and unobtru sively had the work been done, that he knew it not. With moistened eyes his mother said "that was reward enough for all her labor, and proof sufficient of the blessed effects of the Commission, to keep her at work till the war should close."

At the request of an aid society at Mt. Carroll, I visited that place to settle the vexed question of sanitary stores. The wife of the colonel of a regiment recruited in that