SANITARY COMMISSIONS. 





ganization iu Juno. 1^61, to Oct. 1, 1864, were 

 in money $3,083,124.585 of this amount about 

 $1,000,000 lias been received from the S 

 and territories on the Pacific slope, including 

 about $700,000 from California alone, 

 from this, its branches have received in money 

 to December, 1804, about $2,000,000, which has 

 bee. expended in the purchase of supplies, in 

 loca. relief, and in the support of establish- 

 ments of special relief under their direct charge. 

 :penditares for the same period we: 



. and in the months of October and 

 ;,000, making its total expenditure 

 from June, 1861, to Dec., 1864, $2,731,203.79. 

 The value of articles received in kind as contri- 

 butions by the Commission, from June, 1861, to 

 Oct., 1864, vras $8,406.272.78, of which 

 286,439.85 consisted of bedding, hospital furni- 

 ture, and wearing apparel; (1,862,560.42, of 

 hospital food and delicacies; $298.437.28, of 

 miscellaneous supplies, and the remainder un- 

 specified articles. The branches of the Com- 

 mission, twelve in number, had furnished sup- 

 plies to local institutions, soldiers' families, hos- 

 pitals, &c., to the amount of between two and 

 three millions more. Previous to July 1, 1864, 

 the cost of distribution was only 3.76 per cent, 

 of the amount distributed. The heavy expense 

 of chartering steamers and employing auxiliary 

 relief agents, Arc., during the campaign of 1864, 

 increased the cost of distribution to 4.88 per 

 cent, of the value of the supplies distributed. 



During the autumn and winter of 1863-'4, 

 and the spring and summer of 1864, a series of 

 fairs were held in several of the principal cities 

 of the Union, in the interest of the Commission 

 and its branches. These fairs were more gigan- 

 tic in their conception and execution, and yielded 

 larger returns than any enterprises of the kind 

 attempted in this country. The Chicago 

 fan*, the first held, realized about $80,000 net; 

 that at Boston, about $140,000; Cincinnati, 

 00; Albany, $80,000; Cleveland, about 

 $80,000 ; Brooklyn. N. Y., $401.000 ; New York 

 City, $1.200.000*; Pittsburg, $100,000; Balti- 

 more, $55,000 ; Philadelphia, $1,080,000. 

 era! of the smaller cities collected at fairs for 

 the same object, from $10,000 to | These 



sums were not, except in the case of the New 

 York and Philadelphia fairs, paid wholly into 

 the treasury of the parent Commission, a part, 

 and in some cases the whole, being reserved for 

 the purchase of supplies and material, and the 

 support of local institutions for the soldiers or 

 their families. The supplies and material thus 

 purchased, of course, have since appeared, or 

 will eventually appear, in the receipts in kind 

 of the parent Commission. 



II. THE WESTERS SAXITART COMMISSION-. 

 This organization -is entirely distinct from the 

 United States Sanitary Commission, but. like 

 that, knows no State boundaries, but ministers 

 alike to the needs of soldiers from all the S: 

 though from its location it has only supplied 

 the wants of Western armies, and of the freed- 

 men and white refugees of the Mississippi Val- 



ley. It derived its first authority to act from 

 the following order of Maj.-Gen. Fremont: 



IlEADQCABTERS, WESTERX DEPABTMF.XT, ) 



ST. Louis, Mo., Sept 5, l5<iL f 

 . 159. 



With a view to the health and comfort of the vo! 

 unteer troops in and near to the city of St. Louis, t 

 Sanitary Commission is hereby appointed, to consist 

 of five gentlemen, who shall serve voluntarily, and 

 be removable at pleasure. Its general object shall 

 be to carry put, under the properly-constituted mil- 

 itary authorities, and in compliance" with their orders, 

 such sanitary regulations and reforms as the well- 

 being of the soldiers demands. 



The Commission shall have authority, under the 

 directions of the Medical Director, to select, fit up, 

 and furnish suitable buildings for army and brigade 

 hospitals, in such place, and in such manner as cir- 

 cumstances require. It will attend to the selection 

 and appointment of women nurses, under the au- 

 thority and by the direction of Miss D. L. Dix, Gen- 

 eral Superintendent of the nurses of Military Hospi- 

 tals in the United States. It will cooperate with the 

 surgeons of the several hospitals in providing male 

 nurses, and in whatever manner practicable, and by 

 their consent. It shall have authority to visit the 

 different camps, to consult with the commanding 

 officers, and the colonels and other officers of the 

 several regiments, with regard to the sanitary and 

 general condition of the troops, and aid them in pro- 

 viding proper means for the preservation of health 

 and prevention of sickness, by supplies of wholesome 

 and well-cooked food, by good systems of drainage, 

 and other practicable methods. " It will obtain from 

 the community at large such additional means of in- 

 creasing the comfort and promoting the moral and 

 social welfare of the men, in camp and hospital, as 

 may be needed, and cannot be furnished by Govern- 

 ment regulations. It will, from time to time, report 

 directly^to the commander-in-chief of the depart- 

 ment the condition of the camps and hospitals, with 

 such suggestions as can properly be made by a San- 

 itary Board. 



This Commission is not intended in any way to 

 interfere with the Medical Staff, or other officers of 

 the army, but to cooperate with them, and aid them 

 in the discharge of their present arduous and extra- 

 ordinary duties. It will be treated by all officers of 

 the army, both regular and volunteer, in this De- 

 partment, with the respect due to the humane and 

 patriotic motives of the members, and to the author- 

 ity of the co_mmander-in-chief. 



This Sanitary Commission will, for the present, 

 consist of Jas. E. Yeatman, Esq. ; C. S. Greeley, Esq. ; 

 J. B. Johnson, M. D. ; Georse Partridge, Esq. ; and 

 the Rev. William G. Eliot, D.D. 



By order of Maj.-Gen. JOHN C. FREMONT. 

 J. C. KELTO.V, Ass't. Adjt.-Gen. 



The authority conferred by this order was 

 recognized and confirmed by Maj.-Gen. Hal- 

 leek, who added Dr. S. Pollak to the Commis- 

 sion, and still later, viz., December 16, 1*02, 

 by an order from the Secretary of War (Hon. 

 E. M. Stanton), extending the field of its labors, 

 and reappointing the members of the Commis- 

 sion as at first constituted. 



This Commission has not devoted its atten- 

 ton to as wide a range of topics as the fnited 

 - Sanitary Commission, but has confined 

 itself to the work of superintending hospitals, 

 furnishing supplies, appointing nurses, visiting 

 and caring for the sick and wounded of the 

 army of the Southwest Frontier, the District 

 of East Arkansas, the armies operating on both 

 sides of the Mississippi, and the Mississippi NavaJ 



