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 Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    period. Its inspectors were placed under special instructions, and sent throughout the lines of the army, and from them were daily received full and classified returns concerning the results of their observations and efforts in the camps and hos- pitals ; a statistical bureau was organized and placed under the care of a skilled actuary; direct and earnest correspond- ence was opened with the chief military authorities, and with Governors of States; the munificent and homely gifts of the people for the comfort of then' soldier-sons in hospitals were received, assorted, and systematically disbursed by methods approved by the Medical Department, and thus a system of General Relief was established. At the same time, the en- deavors to mitigate by suitable means the personal sufferings and wants of sick, needy, and ignorant volunteers, under irregular circumstances, — circumstances sadly frequent, and a class of miserable and uncared-for sufferers painfully nu- merous in and about Washington and other great military centres after the first battles, — led to the establishment of a branch of Special Relief. From the current records and pub- lications of the Commission it plainly appears that, early in the autumn of 1861, these various methods of service had become fully organized, and were operating harmoniously, and that various incidental works in the interest of the soldier and the people had been set on foot, in addition to reformatory and relief operations of a systematic and more permanent kind. Eve'n before the smoke of the first collision in arms had cleared from the fields of sharp encounter in Virginia and Missouri, the Sanitary Commission was confronted by some very stern duties. By fearlessly accepting them, and express- ing the convictions that had become impressed upon the minds of its members, it exerted no small influence in improving the organization, discipline, and care of our armies, and in giving tone and direction to public sentiment in favor of such im- provements. The faults and short-comings of the administra- tive service in the medical and other departments of the army were pointed out, the importance of rigid discipline insisted upon, and the duty of more wisely directing the selection and appointment of commanding officers was very emphatically set forth. The remark of an old campaigner, “ that a good com-