Civil War Journal - The United States Sanitary Commission

The Civil War began with the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861. During that same month, a dedicated group of 55 women met in New York with the purpose of consolidating all of the aid societies that had recently been established throughout the country into one central association. The Women’s Central Association of Relief was born of that effort.

The newly formed association lost no time in getting to work. It advanced confidently to clasp hands with the Medical Department of the United States Army. This first contact between female enthusiasts and regular army brass brought a sobering splash of cold water onto the aspirations of the ladies. The association was told, in no uncertain terms, that the Medical Department could take care of its own, and the work the women were proposing, although generous, would be superfluous and exaggerated in scope beyond necessity.

The determined women were not to be denied. In conjunction with delegates of the Advisory Committee of the Boards of Physicians and Surgeons of the Hospitals of New York and the New York Medical Association, representatives from the women’s association went to Washington to confer with the Army Medical Bureau and the War Department on the matter of volunteer aid to the army.

Washington was a city in turmoil. The sudden pressure of war and the rapid influx of troops into the capital city brought confusion and frustration. The visiting civilian delegates saw the necessity for an efficient authority in the national army to exercise diligence in safeguarding the soldiers’ well-being—particularly the volunteer—from civilian life into the unlearned ways of the military. The delegates made convincing arguments on the questions of prevention of sickness and suffering among troops, and the best procedure for the public to “manifest their goodwill towards the comfort, security, and health of the Army.”

On June 7, 1861, after considerable political haggling and arm twisting, the War Department tendered its approval for the establishment of a sanitary commission. Secretary of War Simon Cameron said the commission should direct its activities to the principles and practices connected with the inspection of recruits and enlisted men; the sanitary condition of the volunteers; the means of preserving and restoring the health; comfort and efficiency of troops; the proper provision of cooks, nurses and hospitals; and to other subjects of like nature. In time, the commission became known as the U.S. Sanitary Commission.

On July 4, 1863, the day after the repulse of Pickett’s Charge, sanitary commission agents arrived at Gettysburg and began the advance work of paving the way for a mass influx of medical supplies and stores. A schoolhouse was taken on Baltimore Pike (White Run School) near the different Army Corps hospitals. From it, stores and supplies were issued until the reopening of the railroad permitted reaching the field from that route. On July 7, a storehouse was taken in town on Baltimore Street.

Samuel and Edward Fahnestock owned the store, the largest in town, and it quickly became the center of the busiest scene one can imagine. Carload after carload of supplies were brought to this place until the shelves, counters and the floor up to the ceiling were filled and overflowed onto the sidewalk.

These supplies were the outpouring of a grateful people. Each morning, the supply wagons of the division and corps hospitals were before the door, and each day they went away laden with such articles as were desired to meet their needs. Tons of ice, mutton, poultry, fish, vegetables, soft bread, eggs, butter and a variety of other articles were provided for the wounded. Thousands of suits of clothing of all kinds and hospital
furniture in quantities to meet the emergency were provided.

A Relief Lodge was established on Tuesday, July 7, where the railroad bridge over Rock Creek was down, and continued there until the bridge was rebuilt and service restored on Friday, July 10. Between Tuesday and Saturday, good beef soup, coffee and fresh bread was provide for more than 3,000 slightly wounded soldiers whose injuries did not prevent them from walking to this point. They came limping, dragging themselves along, silent, weary and worn. Two large tents, capable of sheltering 75 men, were pitched, stoves erected and the lodge established. Once the rail line was restored to the depot (Lincoln Train Station) in town, a larger Relief Lodge was established adjacent to it.

More than 20,000 wounded soldiers were cared for by the medical departments of the Union and Confederate armies, the citizens of Gettysburg and the surrounding area, and members of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Undoubtedly, thousands of wounded men would have perished without the commission. The wonderful efforts of the sanitary commission’s dedicated civilian staff, backed up by a well-organized logistical support network, would never have been possible without the determination of 55 women who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

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