The United States Sanitary Commission.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The United States Sanitary Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    of 130,000 men had been plunged into the mud-fields between the York and James Rivers, and as they pressed forward towards the rebel capital, — fighting and trenching, continu- ally exposed to malaria, and suffering most excessive fatigue and want, — the Sanitary Commission endeavored to prepare for the constantly increasing crowds of sick and disabled that were daily turned back to the rear upon the Pamun- key, the York, and James Rivers. Though only supplement- ing the deficiencies of medical and administrative service, the supplies, appliances, and working corps it there provided made and entitled it to be considered one of the most efficient departments of medical and administrative service in that disastrous, but heroic campaign. Every witness of what the Commission effected during that period bears testimony to the good judgment with which its work was planned, and the success with which it was prosecuted, as well as to the terri- ble necessity that demanded its interposition. The following passage from a speech of Hon. Moses F. Odell, a member of Congress from Brooklyn, N. Y., sets forth the class of facts which impressed every visitor to the army upon the Peninsula. Before I had been long at the White House there came down from Fair Oaks some five or six hundred wounded soldiers on a train of cars, and then I discovered the vast resources and usefulness of this Commission. I found on board those steamboats numbers of ladies and gentlemen, ready to go to work with willing hearts and able hand3 to administer to the wants of those wounded and dying men. Now the government, I have no hesitation in saying, from the beginning of the war, have had a proper appreciation of the needs of the soldier, and have done all in their power; but under such circumstances as these the Commission was ahead of them, — hours and days ahead of the government in the supply of what was needed on that occasion. I joined them at once, enrolled myself as a working and active member, and remained there four days and nights, during which time there were 3,465 wounded men received, their immediate wants supplied, and necessary medical assistance furnished by the Commission, and they were then sent from there to the Washington and other hospitals. And had not these vessels been there with their bountiful supplies to make the soldier comfortable in his wants and sickness, the suffering would have been unspeakable. During a period so eventful, so terrible, as that of the sum