The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes.
- Date:
- 1864
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes. 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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![hundred tlionsand graves of onr soldiers who liare died in hospital or on battle-fields, tell what sacrifices have sealed tions to the Uuited States Sanitary Commission, the immediate and active agen- cies, which have been, under Providence, largely instrumental in preserving the health of the troops, and thus maintaining a state of efficiency rarely equalled, and perhaps never surpassed. Coming to the present location from the long march of nearly eiiiht hundred miles from Memphis to Knoxville, and so far back, and fighting at Colliersville, Cherokee, Tiiscurabia, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold, and losing throughout in killed, wounded, and missing, nearly two thousand men, the gratification of the gallant corps could hardly shape itself into words, when, oa reaching at last a resting place, weary, worn, ragged, foot-sore, and hungry, it found the inevitable Sanitary Commission with its supplies of vegetables, delicacies, hospital supplies of food and clothing, and experienced once more the benefits of that active and loving sympathy, which, in its organization and results, challenges history for a parallel, and which, in its never-varying love, labor, sacrifice, hope- fulness, broad catholic charity and courage—inspiring words of cheer, corresponds fittingly with, and is a glorious pendant to the patriotism, valor, endurance, and high-lieartedness of the noble army, braving disease and death, enduring all things in the present, and hoping all things in the future, fighting for those altars and fires at and around which they are daily made to feel they are perpetually re- membered. *«**««» ********* I am satisfied from this long and familiar intercourse with the army in active service, that men are brave and fearless, both because of the knowledge that they are watched by loving eyes that fill with proud and happy tears when they do Doblj, and because they are ' sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,' that happen what may, preparation and provision have been made for the emergency, even against their hour and manner of suifering. The soldiers look with confidence to the Commission for prophylactics also, and the liberal distribution of vegetables has been ]iroductive of incalculable good, by preventing that deterioration and deprivation of the system, which is the pre- cursor of Typlius, Scurvy, and all those formidable evils which arise in the army from derangement of the nutritive function. The Medical Department of the army supplies bountifully now what is needed in the way of medicines and hos- pital stores; those medical officers whose ideas of service and administration were found incompatible with the needs of the emergency and the spirit of the times, having been forced to yield their notions or be pushed aside altogether. So far, then, as this portion of the array is concerned, it seems to me that the greatest amount of good may be done in the way of prevention, and I would re- spectfully ui-ge, as my opinion of the method of bringing the greatest good to the greatest number, that the Commission should direct the large-hearted liberality of the soldiers' friends towards gathering and forwarding to the army those vege- tables which are the most difficult to procure on the part of the Conunissury Department, or which are not in the army ration, and which have proved so valu- able hitherto in the prevention of disease arising from the derangement of the function of nutrition and the depraved condition of system, which is nearly cer- tain to follow confinement to one class of food. The occupancy for a long time past of this part of the country by both armies has stripped it of supplies, and many of the inhabitants are forced to apply to the Army Commissary for subsist- ence. The health of our troops is now so excellent, that the greatest expectations may be based upon their efficiency in the coming campaign, and if tlie articles mentioned can be furnished, I have no fear that the number of sick will exceed the four per cent, now reported, although the months of February and March are](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21973593_0265.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
