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Recorded below are notes taken while researching
the United States Sanitary Commission.
My Story of the War: A Woman's Narrative of Four Years Personal
Experience, by Mary A. Livermore. Originally published in 1888, publisher unknown. Reprinted online by Digital Scanning
and Publishing, 2001. Click Here to access the online reprint of this book.
Eliza Chappell Porter: A Memoir. Edited by Mary H. Porter. Fleming
H. Revell Company, Chicago, 1892. Published online by the University of Illinois Library, Urbana, Illinois. Click Here to access the online reprint of this book.
On Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, as the battle at
Shiloh was getting into full swing, a small fleet of USSC boats waited in the Tennessee River ready to take on the wounded.
This report says that the boats were flying yellow Sanitary Commission flags. This differs from another
report that the Commission flags were red. It makes more sense that the flags would be yellow because red flags could
be confused with the Confederate battle flag. However, it is entirely possible that both colors were used. While
the yellow flag was seen in Tennessee, the red flag was viewed in Virginia.
(Yellow flag: Lincoln's
Daughters of Mercy by Marjorie Barstow Greenbie. Page 121. Red flag: Lincoln's Fifth Wheel by William Quentin
Maxwell. Page 273.)
In Philadelphia Mrs. Mary Lee set up a soldier relief station that became
known as the Union Refreshment Saloon. Housewives of the area volunteered to arrive at any time of day or night,
at the signal of a gun firing, to serve soldiers arriving by the train or boat. They supplied the men with food, drink, and
tobacco.
(Lincoln's Daughters of
Mercy by Marjorie Barstow Greenbie. Page 134.)
A Canadian, Emma C. Edmonds, worked in the camps on the Virginia peninsula.
After the death of her sweetheart, she recklessly volunteered to serve as a spy for General McClellan. After much examination
to determine her worth and abilities, Emma began going to and from Richmond to gather intelligence for the Army of the Potomac.
(Lincoln's Daughters of
Mercy by Marjorie Barstow Greenbie. Page 136.)
The women wore a protective garment called a "Mother Hubbard apron" to protect
their nicer clothing that was more expensive to purchase and more difficult to clean. A Mother Hubbard apron was a "shapeless,
sleeved garment of gray or brown calico" that covered their woolen clothing when doing dirty chores.
(Cyclone in Calico by Nina Brown Baker. Page 111.)
The USSC distributed supplies in three areas: General, Special, and Battlefield.
General: This relief was for general, regimental, and field hospitals; for
men in camp and on the march.
Special: This relief was for those who fell through the cracks. Soldiers who
had been discharged but had no means of survival; those who were discharged from hospitals and could not fight but were also
not discharged; men who were wounded and left behind - abandoned on the field; those who could not procure their papers or
their pay and were left in limbo or destitue; prisoners of war and those exchanged but unable to return to duty. It watched
for malingerers who attempted to use the hospital system as a means for desertion; planted gardens to fight scurvy; furnished
lodging for traveling soldiers and their famlies; assisted soldiers in the filing of papers; wrote letters, supplying the
paper, envelopes, pens, and postage.
Battlefield: Aided in removing soldiers from the battlefield and caring for
them in regimental hospitals and aid stations; removed them via ambulence wagon or boat to hospitals away from the fighting.
Supplied needed stores to battlefield surgeons and hospitals.
(Lincoln's Fifth Wheel by William Quentin Maxwell. Pages 303-316.)
The U.S. Sanitary Commission supplied the Union Army hospitals with the following
supplies. This is a partial list.
- Quinine for malaria
- Vaccination for smallpox
- Bandages, lint, dressings, splints, tourniquets
- Chloroform
- Castile soap, sponges
- Straw bed sacks
- Linens, towels
- Dried fruit (apples, peaches, pears)
- Syrup (lemon, blackberry)
- Pickles, cabbages, onions, sauerkraut, horseradish
- Stimulants (Wine)
- Crackers
- Tea, beef tea, condensed milk, egg nog
- Chocolate, sugar
- Tin cups
- Books (Travel histories, biographies, allegories, pocket New Testaments)
- Games (Backgammon, dominoes)
- Clothing (Shirts)
- Paper, envelopes, postage
(Lincoln's Fifth Wheel by William Quentin Maxwell. Page 257-258.)
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