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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



GENESIS OE THE UNITED STATES SANITARY 

 COMMISSION 



And now the story returns to Florence 

 Nightingale and to the British Commis- 

 sion which followed her to the Crimea in 

 April, 1855. Charles J. Stille, in his 

 "History of the United States Sanitary 

 Commission," makes it very clear that the 

 Commission owed its existence to the ex- 

 periences of Great Britain in the Crimea! 



"At that time the experience of the 

 Crimean War was fresh in the memory 

 of all. That experience was a complete 

 chapter by itself on sanitary science. It 

 taught the great truth that the 'cause of 

 humanity was identified with the strength 

 of armies.' We were left to no vague 

 conjecture as to the causes which pro- 

 duced the fearful mortality among the 

 allied troops before Sevastopol. . . . 

 Public opinion in England, indignant and 

 horror-stricken at this frightful result, 

 long before the war closed, called loudly 

 for investigation and remedy. 



"The result has been a contribution of 

 inestimable value to our knowledge of 

 everything which concerns the vital ques- 

 tions of the health, comfort, and efficiency 

 of armies. The results of these investi- 

 gations, both in regard to the causes of 

 the evil and the wonderful efficiency of 

 the remedies which were applied for its 

 removal, had been recently given to the 

 world in parliamentary reports, in the 

 works of professional men, and especially 

 in the invaluable testimony of Miss 

 Nightingale ; so that all the conditions of 

 the problem were perfectly known, and 

 its solution could be arrived at with the 

 exactness and certainty of a scientific 

 demonstration." 



PREVENTION THE WATCHWORD OE THE 

 SANITARY COMMISSION 



As the watchword of Dunant was Per- 

 manence, so the watchword of the United 

 States Sanitary Commission was Preven- 

 tion. The Commission originally pro- 

 posed to act in an advisory capacity to 

 the government in general matters of 

 sanitation, but it rapidly grew into a cen- 

 tral committee for most of the organiza- 

 tions of volunteer relief in the North ; was 

 in fact the first organized practical Red 

 Cross association, though it did not bear 



the name. The advice of Mr. Bowles 

 seems to have carried special weight with 

 the delegates to the Geneva Conference in 

 matters concerning the so-called neutral- 

 ization, or inviolability of the wounded 

 and those attending upon them. 



It will interest the readers of the South 

 to know that General Beauregard seems 

 to have been the first officer in the Civil 

 War to suggest the systematic and in- 

 variable recognition of the rule that sur- 

 geons should be treated as non-combat- 

 ants and released if taken prisoner. 



There seemed to be some question in 

 the minds of the delegates to the Geneva 

 Convention as to whether this so-called 

 principle of neutrality was practicable, 

 but Mr. Bowles seems to have been able 

 to convince them that it had proved quite 

 practicable in the traffic between the 

 armies of the North and the South. 



A UNIVERSAL SIGN ADOPTED FOR THE 

 SANITARY CORPS 



The 1864 Conference did not consider 

 the question of volunteer societies — that 

 had already been dealt with in 1863 — but 

 it adopted a "Convention" of ten articles 

 looking toward the inviolability, or "neu- 

 trality," of the medical corps and the 

 wounded, ambulances, military hospitals, 

 personnel, and even the civilians within 

 the theater of war who should render aid 

 to the wounded, and it adopted a univer- 

 sal sign for the sanitary corps of all 

 armies alike — "The flag and arm badge 

 shall bear a red cross on a white ground." 



Hitherto each nation had had its own 

 sanitary corps insignia, usually unrecog- 

 nized by the enemy, even though the 

 enemy should have wanted to protect the 

 medical and nursing contingents. 



Such, briefly summarized, is the way 

 Red Cross began. The history of later 

 conventions, developments, and modifica- 

 tions is too long for the purpose of this 

 article. What is being emphasized here 

 is that a practical beginning, combined 

 with a characteristically nineteenth cen- 

 tury humane idea, has led to the far- 

 reaching and manifold modern Red 

 Cross, which has been amplified until it 

 includes almost every conceivable activity 

 designed to lessen human misery, not 

 merely in the stress of war, but in great 

 natural calamities. 



