Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 30

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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The personnel of the central office at Louisville was as follows:

Secretary Western Department Sanitary Commission, Dr. J. S. Newberry ; assistant secretary, Robert T. Thorne; chief clerk, Dr. N. E. Soule ; cashier, C. S. Sill ; superintendent hospital directory, H. S. Holbrook; superintendent ware- houses, W. S. Hanford; editor Sanitary Reporter, Dr. G. L. Andrew; hospital visitor, Rev. F. H. Bushnell ; superintendent hospital trains, Dr. J. P. Barnum ; superintendent hospital and supply steamer, H. W. Fogle; claim agent, H. H. Burkholder. Of these officers Drs. Newberry and Soule and Messrs. Sill, Hol- brook, Hanford, Fogle and Burkholder were from Ohio.

Free transportation over freight and express lines was generously given for the stores of the Commission, and the free use of private and military telegraph lines to all its agents who had depots of stores at every important post, and whose agents with supplies were present on nearly every battle-field. It established feeding stations and Soldiers' Homes so as to supply all the wants of the soldiers discharged at the most southern point reached by the army until he reached his home, in which also the friends of the soldier found ample accommodations. As an illustration of the extent and the benefits of these Homes one instance may be given : A woman from Central New York made her way to Chattanooga, Tenn., to visit her sick husband, but reached the place too late to see him alive. Her money was exhausted, for she expected to obtain from her husband means for her return. A childless widow who had given her all to the country she could not bear to leave the remains of her husband on her return home. An appeal was made by the agent of the Commission to the military undertaker who had a lucrative business at that post, who readily consented to embalm the body and furnish a burial case without charge, and the express company forwarded it to its destination without charge. The agent furnished her with free transporta- tion over the military roads to Louisville, and open letters to the superintendents of the Homes and to the railroad conductors stating the facts of her case and soliciting their interest in her behalf. At the Homes in Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Buffalo she obtained meals, and lunches to take into the cars; the conductors passed her free over their roads, and she reached Syra- cuse, N. Y., with the body of her husband and without any expense.

An important work new in military history was inaugurated, and made a marked success by the Ohio men in the Commission. When the Army of the Cumberland had raised the siege of Chattanooga, and in the winter of 1864 was preparing for a vigorous, aggressive campaign, it was evident the army was likely to suffer severely during the coming summer for the want of vegetable food. It could not be brought to so distant a point from the Northern States, and no dependence could be placed upon the adjacent country for a supply. Scurvy had prevailed to an alarming degree in this army during the previous summer when stationed at Murfreesboro, much nearer the base of supplies. An experi- ment had there been made in gardening, under the management of Mr. Harriman, a gardener detailed from the One-hundred-and-first O. V. I. in 1863, which was so far successful as to warrant, in the opinion of the agent at Chattanooga, a more extensive effort in 1864, and commensurate with the increased necessities of the

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army. He immediately conferred with the medical director of the army, Dr. Perrin, and proposed with his co-operation and the approval of the commanding general, to establish a sanitary garden of sufficient extent to provide for all the probable wants of the sick and wounded.

The proposition was heartily welcomed as a probable solution of what had been regarded as an insolvable problem. He immediately approved a proposi- tion prepared by the agent for submission to Gen. Thomas, proposing that if the general would authorize the Commission to take possession of abandoned lands suitable for cultivation, would provide for the protection of the garden, and furnish horses and necessary details of men, the Commission would provide a good market-garden, tools, seeds, and appliances for the work, and would under- take to supply all the hospitals at Chattanooga and the neighboring posts with all the vegetables needed, distributing the surplus to convalescent camps and regiments.

The general at once issued the necessary orders for carrying on the work; a body of land between Citico creek and the Tennessee river was selected, a detail put to work building a fence, so as to include within it and the two streams something over 150 acres, and a requisition forwarded to Dr. Newberry for seeds and tools. When these arrived application was made for horses, and it was learned that there were none at the post that could be spared for the work. An advertisement was inserted in the Chattanooga papers for the purchase of horses and mules, but none were offered. Then authority was obtained to impress from the country. The agent scoured the neighboring territory for some twenty miles on all sides of Chattanooga without finding anything to impress.

Returning somewhat discouraged from his last trip, he stumbled upon a corral of sick and disabled horses, and the difficulty was at once overcome. An order was secured directing the quartermaster to turn over fifty of these horses selected by the Commission and as many harnesses. There was no difficulty in finding horses unfit for military duty which would do fairly good work before the plow or harrow. They were put promptly at work. But during these delays the season had so far advanced that more tools were needed than were sent from Louisville. To meet this want some were impressed from the country and others made to order by the quartermaster; and soon the fifty horses and nearly a hun- dred men were actively employed under the supervision of Mr. Thomas Wills, of Summit county, who was sent by Dr. Newberry as head gardener. The work was pushed with energy during the whole season, much of the ground being made to yield two and three crops, all the articles raised in an ordinary market- garden being cultivated. It happened that wagons were employed distributing the products to the hospitals on the day that the first of the wounded from the Atlanta campaign arrived, and from that time till the close of the season the supply was much in excess of all the wants of the hospitals, the large surplus being distributed to convalescent camps and regiments. As the season advanced the details of men fit for duty in the field were revoked, and details made from the convalescent camps. These men, placed in good quarters, abundantly sup- plied with vegetables, and moderately worked, were restored to health much faster than those left in the camps. The men were so well pleased with their position and their work that the prospect of a revoking of their detail for any insubordination secured strict discipline. At the close of the season voluntary testimonials were furnished by all the surgeons in charge of the hospitals of the great value of the work, and that it had been the means of saving the lives of thousands. The details for a guard and for work constituted as efficient part of the garrison of the post as if left within the camps, and there was with them an almost entire exemption from sickness. The horses from the sick corrals, well fed and cared for, rapidly recovered, and the whole practical cost was the price of seeds and tools, and the salary of the gardener. The fact was demonstrated that, at a military post, when a garrison is to be maintained through the summer, an abundance of vegetable food can be raised by the garrison without any impair- ment of its efficiency and at a very trifling cost.

At the urgent request of all the surgeons of the post the general ordered a con- tinuance of the work during the following year.

The whole work of the Commission was a novelty in military operations. Its

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agents were everywhere-in hospitals, in camps, and on the battle-fields-co- operating with the medical officers in the care of the sick and wounded, and in precautions for preserving the health of the men ; and the voluntary testimonials of the officers, surgeons, and privates to the value of their work would fill a volume. What is reproachfully called " red tape " in the army is system, method, a careful scrutiny of expenditures, without which the richest nation would be bankrupted by a short war; its hardships in individual cases are mitigated and almost entirely removed by such a voluntary association as the Sanitary Com- mission, with its agents in all parts of the army, harmoniously working with the medical officers, and provided with supplies of all kinds for the relief of the soldiers, which can be promptly distributed without formal requisitions, simply on the request of the surgeon and attendants, or wherever a needy soldier is found by the agents. They supplement the government supplies, and are a provision for every emergency when the government stores are not available or cannot be obtained in time.

This is a brief and imperfect sketch of the work of the United States Sanitary Commission in the Mississippi valley, in which the citizens of Ohio took so hon- prable and important a part.

First in the list of workers stands the name of Prof. John S. Newberry, who had general charge of the Western department. The entire work of organization and general superintendence was his, the selection of all agents, and the determination of all their duties and salaries.

Before the war he had a national reputation as a geologist and paleontologist, and at its close returned to his favorite studies. He was appointed chief geolo- gist for Ohio, and, with the aid of his assistants, prepared a report upon the geology of the State, alike creditable to him and to his assistants and to the State.

He was, while engaged in this work, elected as Professor of Geology and Palæ- ontology in the School of Mines of Columbia College, New York, a position which he now occupies. His scientific labors have given him not only an American but also an European reputation as one of the most prominent scientists of the age. The following extract from a recent number of an influential English periodical shows the estimation in which he is held in that country :

" A large circle of admirers, both English and American, will see with pleasure that the Murchirson medal of the Geological Society is to be conferred this year on Dr. J. S. Newberry, of New York, the well-known professor of Columbia Col- lege. Dr. Newberry, however, has been in his time active, and indeed distin- guished in other matters besides geology. 'I remember,' writes a correspondent, 'meeting him by chance in Nashville in November, 1863, when he was at the head of the Western department of the Sanitary Commission, an immense organization, whose business it was to dispense for the benefit of the soldiers of the Republic great quantities of stores, consisting mainly of medicines, clothing, and comforts of all sorts subscribed by enthusiastic citizens of the Northern States. Dr. New- berry took me down with him from Nashville to the then seat of war on the boundary of Georgia, and I can bear witness to the workmanlike manner in which he administered his department, and the devotion with which he was regarded by all of his assistants."

Dr. Newberry's office assistants were Charles Sill, of Cuyahoga Falls, treasurer ; H. S. Holbrook, of Cuyahoga Falls, in charge of the hospital directory ; H. M. Fogle, clerk, and W. S. Hansford, in charge of transportation, both also of Cuya- hoga Falls; others were employed from time to time as clerks, but these remained in his office till the close of the war. Mr. Sill and Mr. Fogle are now deceased. Mr. Holbrook retired from his work greatly debilitated, and never recovered his health.

Of the medical inspectors, Dr. A. N. Read, of Norwalk, leaving a lucrative practice, entered the service in Kentucky when our army first crossed into that State, was almost the sole representative of the Commission at the battle of Perrysville, followed the army to Nashville and Pittsburg Landing, and after- wards returned to Nashville, and made that his headquarters as chief inspector and general manager of the work of the Commission in the Army of the Cumber- land. He followed the army to Chattanooga, worked assiduously in care of the

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wounded in the battle of Chickamauga until, prostrated with sickness, he was compelled to return home with his son, who was severely wounded in that battle, to recruit his health by rest. He soon returned to his headquarters at Nashville, and gave his general superintendence to the work, proceeding to the front at the commencement of the Atlanta campaign, and accompanying the army to Atlanta. His work during all that campaign was severe and exhausting, and returning to Nashville, he continued his labors to the close of the war, when he returned home · so prostrated by exposure and fatigue that his health has never since been fully restored. He received many voluntary testimonials from the officers of the army for the fidelity, skill, and tact with which he discharged the duties of his position.

Dr. M. M. Prentice, an eminent physician of Cleveland, commenced his work as medical inspector early in the war, and followed it with such a self-sacrificing fidelity that his health and strength failed him, and he died at his post while the issue of the war was uncertain.

Henry Parker, of Lorain county, and M. M. Seymour, of Painesville, eminent physicians, abandoned their practice and assumed the duties of medical in- spectors, which they discharged with eminent success till the close of the war.

Dr. T. G. Cleveland, previously surgeon of the Forty-first Ohio regiment, entered the service of the Commission as medical inspector in 1861, and continued his work with marked ability till the close of the war.

Dr. R. C. Hopkins, of Cleveland, entered the service as medical officer of the relief steamer "Lancaster," chartered by Dr. Newberry for the transport of stores and the sick and wounded, and afterwards took charge of the work of the Com- mission at Memphis. His wife accompanied him until he was prostrated by overwork and on his way home died at Evansville, Ind., January 26, 1863. Mrs. Hopkins sought relief from her affliction by a return to the work and continued it at Nashville until her services were no longer needed.

Prof. H. N. Hosford of Hudson, Rev. N. P. Bailey of Painesville, Rev. J. E. Wilson of Ravenna and Mr. George G. Carter of Cleveland, who was then a stu- dent of theology, labored efficiently and faithfully as hospital visitors. Their duties were to visit daily the hospitals of the posts at which they were stationed, promote the general comfort of the patients, write their letters, furnish them reading, administer religious consolation to the dying and transmit their last messages to their friends. Many in their dying hours blessed them for their timely Christian labors and many who recovered will remember with gratitude their faithful and unselfish work.

F. R. Crary, of Northern Ohio, early entered the service as storekeeper and gen- eral relief agent; followed the Army of the Cumberland to Chattanooga and was one of the field relief corps during the Atlanta campaign. Energy, faithfulness and enthusiastic devotion characterized his work.

William Cowdery, then of Hudson, now of Mecca, Trumbull county, rendered faithful and valuable work at Chattanooga for about a year.

Alfred H. Sill was sent to Chattanooga by Dr. Newberry after the battle of Chickamauga. The rebels occupied the left bank of the Tennessee river and their sharpshooters made it impracticable to use the short road from Bridgeport to Chattanooga for the transportation of supplies, and a mountain road, difficult and some sixty miles long, was the best practicable route. Sanitary stores in wagons attached to the army trains were sometimes pillaged by teamsters and train hands. Mr. Sill came at the request of the general agent at Chattanooga for an energetic man, courageous and faithful, who would act as special guard of the Sanitary train, could sleep in the woods with a blanket for his bed, keep the train under his direct observation till it reached Chattanooga, and shoot down if necessary any man who attempted to plunder it. This work he continued with- out complaint, riding backward and forward over this long, dreary and dangerous route, until the opening of transportation by rail and river after the battle of Chattanooga.

M. C. Read, an attorney of Hudson, Ohio, left a lucrative practice in February, 1862, and joined his brother, Dr. A. N. Read, in the work at Nashville; worked there for a short time and accompanied his brother to Pittsburg Landing, when he was assigned to duty at Hamburgh Landing, a few miles further up the river.

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Here, while superintending the removal of stores, from the landing to the rooms of the Commission, he was prostrated by a sunstroke and compelled to return home. A few weeks in the Lake Superior region so far restored his health that he was able to return to Nashville, and was put in charge of the work at Mur- freesboro; thence he followed General Rosecrans' army to Bridgeport and finally reached Chattanooga in company with General Rosecrans and his staff. Here he remained in charge of the work at this post until after Lee's surrender. He then returned home and rode over Ohio and West Virginia, selecting in all the principal cities Sanitary Commission Claim Agents, who were commissioned to collect claims and secure pensions for all soldiers applying to them, without charge to the soldier. This closed his work, except a short return to Chattanooga, to close out some unfinished business there. The effects of the sunstroke and subsequent labor and exposure have ever since seriously interfered with his pro- fessional work.

Jeremiah R. Brown, of Hudson, a brother of the famous John Brown, entered the service early in the war, and very appropriately was put in charge of the work in Kansas, where he labored with distinguished zeal and ability, assisted by his daughter Fanny Brown, until the work of the Commission was closed.

Thomas Wills, then of Cuyahoga Falls, was sent to Chattanooga in the spring of 1864 as superintendent of the Sanitary garden. This position he held until the end of the summer of 1865, and the remarkable success of the garden was largely due to his skill and fidelity.

Dr. George L. Starr, of Hudson, after completion of his medical studies, entered the service of the Commission at Knoxville, Tenn., and did good work for about four months investigating the wants of posts accessible from that point and sup- plying them from the storehouse in that city. He afterwards practised his pro- fession in Youngstown and is now in successful practice in Hudson.

Rev. T. Y. Gardiner. of Cleveland, was also engaged for some time in the work at Knoxville as general agent, doing excellent service and accompanying General Stoneman on his raid to care for the sick and wounded. He has since been a successful preacher in the Congregational Church.

Charles Seymour, son of Prof. N. P. Seymour of Western Reserve College, was engaged in the work at Knoxville; was in all things efficient and faithful. He became so much attached to the place that he remained in Knoxville after the close of the war as a real estate agent, has secured a wide influence in the neighbor- ing country, and has made his business profitable to himself and his employers.

Captain Isaac Brayton, of Ravenna, early entered the service of the Commis- sion, followed the Army of the Cumberland to Murfreesboro, was for a time in charge of that post, until transferred to Nashville as superintendent of the Soldiers' Home established there. This position he filled with great ability until the Home was no longer needed.

Colonel Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, well known in scientific circles, did efficient service as special relief agent in all parts of the West, employed espe- cially in the emergencies following important battles.

Dr. R. Brundret, of Dayton, remained in the service during most of the war and mainly in the Army of the Cumberland. He was one of the most valuable workers, doing everything well and at the right time.

Rev. O. Kennedy, Chaplain of the One-hundred-and-first O. V. I., came by acci- dent into the employ of the Commission. After the battle of Chickamauga, while the fate of the army in Chattanooga was uncertain and all trains moving toward that place were ordered back, he fell in with a train of sanitary stores destined for Chattanooga, but turned back with the Government trains. He took charge of it, conducted it to a place of safety, distributed a part of the stores to the needy and carried the rest safely to Chattanooga. This experience gave him a love for the work and commended him to the agents of the Commission. He obtained leave of absence from his regiment and entered with energy upon the Commission work. The military authorities were transferring the sick and wounded as fast as possible to the rear, where supplies for their comfort could be more easily obtained; but it was over sixty miles of difficult mountain road, on which no supplies could be obtained. The Commission immediately sent tents, cooking utensils and supplies for a feeding-station in the mountains and arranged with

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the medical director for notice to be sent by the Courier line of the time of start- ing of each train and the number of sick and wounded in it, so that a warm meal could be in readiness for them on their arrival. Mr. Kennedy, with a few assistants, took charge of this solitary station in the mountains, liable constantly to be raided by bushwhackers, and from that time until after the siege of Chat- tanooga was raised, provided all the sick and wound who crossed the moun- tains with an ample meal, no matter at what hour of the day or night they reached the station. Also, many a belated or hungry officer and soldier returning to the army has had reason to bless this lodge in the wilderness. After the open- ing of the river and railroad he established feeding-stations at Kelley's Ferry and Bridgeport, and for the most of the time was in charge of one of them. If a benediction is bestowed for the giving of a cup of cold water to the thirsty, cer- tainly he shall not lose his reward.

John H. Millikan, of Kirtland, and a brother-in-law of Mr. Howe, so long the efficient superintendent of the Reform Farm, and for some time one of the elder brothers in that institution, served the Commission long and faithfully, until he died at his post in Knoxville in 1864. Nor should Mr. Place, whose first name is not now recalled, a private of the One-hundred-and-fifth O. V. I., be forgotten. When his regiment reached Murfreesboro he was detailed for work with the Commission at that point, and was so faithful and efficient that his detail was continued and only revoked at Chattanooga that he might join his regiment to muster out of the service.

Dr. H. A. Warriner was a professor in Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, when he entered the service of the Commission, discharging varied duties with the highest degree of ability and industry. After the capture of Vicksburg he was for a time General Superintendent of the work at that post and until he be- came the editor of the Sanitary Reporter, published at Louisville, Ky., which was the official paper of the Western Department of the Commission, and executed a potent influence in promoting its efficiency. After the close of the war he undertook the task of collating the records of all the posts of the Western Depart- ment and the preparation of an official history of its work. With characteristic devotion he applied himself to this task until physical and mental prostration compelled him to abandon it, and, exhausted and worn out by the work for the Commission, he died in the prime of manhood.

Dr. N. E. Soule was a teacher in Cincinnati when the war commenced, and soon after its commencement entered the service of the Commission. He was made chief clerk in the central office of the Commission at Louisville, where during the entire war he rendered most efficient assistance to the secretary and the heads of the different departments of the Commission's work, and by his ripe scholarship and genial manners won the respect and affection of all his associates.

Rev. G. C. Carter of Cleveland, in addition to his duties as hospital visitor, already mentioned, rendered important service as general relief agent.

In the spring of 1863 a Free Claim Agency was opened by the Sanitary Com- mission at Louisville and soon began to demonstrate its usefulness by becoming the medium of communication with the government for white and colored soldiers who were both poor and ignorant and who, with the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers, constituted as worthy objects of charity as the Sanitary Commission at any time took under its care. This agency was placed in charge of Mr. H. H. Burkholder, previously a resident of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and it continued with increased usefulness till the autumn of 1865, when the organiza- tion of the Western Department of the Sanitary Commission was broken up and the care of the office was assumed by the Kentucky branch. Mr. Burkholder's good work was prolonged beyond the close of the war, and in his report made July 1, 1867, he had received 1575 claims, of which 660 had been allowed and $99,765.89 paid over to the claimants. Soon after a terrible tragedy ended at once the life and good work of Mr. Burkholder. Returning from Cincinnati with his young wife their steamer was burned and both were lost.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 30

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006