The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes / Sanitary Commission.
- United States Sanitary Commission
- Date:
- 1864
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes / Sanitary Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![linen apron, and busy with the needle, the hammer, and the pen, thi3 mighty work has been silently gaining strength and gaining ground. Be- fore resuming our work, let us clear our eyes for a moment from the dust of these welcome bales and boxes; let us free our ears from tlie whirr of the sewing machine, and consider what part our work is taking in a national, in a patriotic point of view. A wounded rebel, from South Caro- lina, not along ago, asked our inspector, What is the meaning of this stamp, ' U. S. Sanitary Commission,' on my shirt? It was explained to him. What, said he, do you have zfo?«e« in your army ? The women are the back-bone of our army, was the reply; we have ten thousand of them working for it all the time. I never mean to fight against those women again, was the rejoinder. It was a low estimate— ten thousand women—only one division of the grand army scattered throughout the loyal States, representatives merely of the many hundred thousands banded together in one common sympathy, united in one na- tional cause. In the spring of '61 every village was busy fitting off its own dearly loved soldier boys—the best, the bravest, the flower of the flock. How gladly would we have followed these sons and brothers to the field to shield them from danger, to nurse them when sick or wounded—but it might not be. They voluntarily gave up their own identity, as soldiers of vil- lage, or county, or State, and enrolled themselves as soldiers of the Union. They had given their lives to their country, and to the principles which that country represents—they had sworn to support the Government; and turning to those at home, anxiously endeavoring to follow the loved ones with home comforts to the field, they say : The Government is our best friend, you can only help us by helping it, by working with it and through it— it cares for all alike, it does for us the best it can, but it cannot do every- thing—help us by helping it. And so we are no longer working alone for our own sons and brothers, but for the sons and brothers of the Union. The spirit of rivalry and jealous}', the false pride, the taunt of Our com- pany so much better taken care of than yours, has given place to some- thing far higher and holier. What are these but the germs of that spirit which rankles at the root of secession ? When we think that this state of things might have existed all through our country, does this ideal work of the Commission, this ' merging of the domestic interests of the people ia the army,' seem so unimportant because it is not to be estimated in figures ? Friends, sisters, let us think serionsly of the responsibility of rightly using this mighty influence which rests with us. Shall it be brought to bear upon nothing higher than the alleviation of present suffering—is there nothing nobler in our work than this ? While we bind up the wounds may we not also strengthen the hands and the hearts of those who are fighting for principles on the battle field, by fighting for those princi- ples at home ? Is not this consecration of ourselves to the right as much our duty—more so—than anything else ? Let us, then, in the security and happiness of our own homes, as Soldiers of Christ, fight the good fight ot humanity, of patriotism, of Christianity—fight it through all re- verses, knowing no discouragements, nor compromises, nor defeats, but believing and knowing that the right must triumph in the end. Hence- forth D]ay our watchword be Union and Liberty, and then shall the bond](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21459460_0275.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
