Life and writings of Amelia Bloomer

by D. C. Bloomer

LETTER TO CONVENTION OF LOYAL WOMEN.

“Miss Anthony:

“Your letter inviting me to meet in council with the loyal women of the nation on the 14th inst. in the city of New York is received. Most gladly does my heart respond to the call for such a meeting, and most earnestly do I hope that the deliberations on that occasion will result in much good to woman and to the cause you meet to promote.

“The women of the North are charged by the press with a lack of zeal and enthusiasm in the war. The charge may be true to some extent. Though for the most part the women of the loyal states are loyal to the government, and in favor of sustaining its every measure for putting down the rebellion, yet they do not I fear enter fully into the spirit of the revolution, or share greatly in the enthusiasm and devotion which sustain the women of the South in their struggle for what they believe their independence and freedom from oppression. This is owing, doubtless, to the war being waged on soil remote from us, to women having no part in the active contest, and to the deprivation and heart-sorrows it has occasioned them. There are too many who think only of themselves and too little of the sufferings of the soldiers who have volunteered to save their country. While they are willing to give of their time and means to relieve the sick and wounded, they at the same time decry the war, lament the sacrifices and expenditure it occasions, think it should have been prevented by a compromise and long for peace on almost any terms. These think not of the great cause at stake, they care not for the poor slave, think not of the future of our country, and fail to see the hand of God in the movement punishing the nation for sin and leading it up through much suffering and tribulation to a brighter and more glorious destiny.

“But there is a class of women who have looked beyond the mere clash of arms and the battlefield of the dead and dying, and recognize the necessity and importance of this dark hour of trial to our country. The first cannon fired at Sumter sounded in their ears the death knell of slavery and proclaimed the will of the Almighty to this nation. These have never believed we should have peace or great success until the doom of slavery was irrevocably sealed. That seal has been set. Our noble President has bowed to the will of the Supreme Power and by the guidance and sustaining spirit of that Power will, I trust, lead our country successfully through the great and fearful struggle and place it upon a firm and more enduring basis.

“The contest has outlasted the expectation of all, and has cost the nation a vast amount of blood and treasure. It has called into the field a million or more of soldiers, and the number of fathers, brothers and sons slain upon the battlefield and wasted away in camps and hospitals is counted by hundreds of thousands, while its expenses run up to billions. And still the war for the Union, for Freedom, and the integrity of our national boundaries goes forward; and in the hearts of true Union men everywhere the firm resolve has been made that it shall go on until the rebellion is crushed, cost what it may, and continue though it should last as long as did the war which brought our nation into existence.

“Now the question for us to consider is: Are we prepared for the further and continued sacrifice? Have we yet more sons and brothers to yield up on the altar of our country? To this question let every loyal woman address herself; and I fondly hope that the proceedings of your convention will be such as to nerve woman for whatever sacrifice and trial await her.

“I know there are many women in whose hearts the love of country and of justice is strong, and who are willing to incur any loss and make almost any sacrifice rather than that the rebellion should succeed and the chains of the bondmen be more firmly riveted. If they manifest less enthusiasm than their patriotic brothers it is because they have not so great an opportunity for its exercise. The customs of society do not permit any stormy or noisy manifestation of feeling on the part of woman. But the blood of Revolutionary sires flows as purely in her veins as in those of her more favored brothers, and she can feel as deeply, suffer as intensely, and endure as bravely as do they.

“But I would have her do more than suffer and endure. I would that she should not only resolve to stand by the government of the Union in its work of defeating the schemes of its enemies, but that she should let her voice go forth to the government in clear and unmistakable tones against any peace with rebels, except upon the basis of entire submission to the authority of the government. Against the schemes and plans of the ‘peace party’ in the North the loyal women everywhere protest. That party seeks to obtain peace through compromise, and it advocates an armistice with rebels who ask for none. Such a peace we do not want, for it would be either brought about by the recognition of the rebel government, or by base and dishonorable submission to its demands. To either of these results we are alike opposed. When peace comes, let it come through the complete triumph of the Union army; and with the destruction of the great cause of the rebellion, which we all know to be African Slavery.

“What part woman is to take in the work, and in what way she can best hold up the hands and cheer the heart of the great man who is at the head of our government, will be for the loyal women in council to determine.

“A. B.”

The ladies of Council Bluffs were zealous in sending clothing and necessary hospital stores to the soldiers fighting at the front. Mrs. Bloomer was one of the most active in this work. She was placed on many committees, often at the head of them, and her house was a centre around which their efforts were directed. She was a thorough patriot, and did all in her power to promote the welfare of those who were fighting the battle of the Union. She attended for three weeks the great Sanitary Fair held in Chicago in the early part of 1865, and previous to going to it had been largely instrumental in collecting the noble contribution sent thither by Iowa. Here, for the first time, she met General Grant, the illustrious commander of the Union armies. Mrs. Bloomer had never been classed among the “abolitionists,” but she was nevertheless an intense hater of slavery and the slave power, and no one rejoiced more sincerely that the war finally ended with the overthrow of that blight upon the fair name of our country.