No one can measure the good done through the manifold appliances of that Home. During the war over seventy thousand soldiers enjoyed its hospitality. There they were helped over rough places; their difficulties that seemed to them like mountains vanished; they were nursed into strength and took on new heart and hope; became in fact new men, and very many of them went back into the ranks, courageously to fight to the finish the battle for the preservation of the Union.
Early in 1862 the Sanitary Commission also opened a Home on Elm Street, for refugees, of which we have already spoken in a previous chapter; and still another in 1863. These Homes were conducted on the same general principles as the Home for soldiers. A man of great excellence of character, Mr. Cavender, out of his deep sympathy for the forlorn refugees, voluntarily gave his entire time to the care of them. Thus the demand for loving, self-sacrificing toil for others always seemed to be met by some unselfish soul like his.
But the care of the needy among us was not for a moment left to chance volunteers. Not long after the Commission began its work, the Ladies Union Aid Society was formed. It was made up of the best and most efficient women of the city. Social distinctions were for the time being obliterated. The hearts of the rich and the poor were united by the common danger and by a common love of country. Any one who could do some useful service to suffering soldiers was welcomed by all. This society enlisted women, in different parts of the city, who met regularly in groups to prepare such comforts as were needed by our brave boys both in camp and hospital. It had its ramifications in all the loyal churches. Without a thought of denominational distinctions, patriotic women of all creeds or of no creed met to work for the armed defenders of the Union. They freely donated the material that they prepared for use. They scraped lint, knit socks, made under-garments, furnished beds for the sick in hospitals, and secured aid and employment for the wives of soldiers.
Out from the ranks of these women came many of our most efficient hospital nurses. Miss Dix, by whom, or by some deputy of hers, all nurses must be approved, had appointed as her agent in St. Louis, Mr. Yeatman, president of the Sanitary Commission. On account of his position he had unusual opportunities for observing among volunteer helpers those best qualified for stated and official service, and his selections were eminently wise.
No one could be a candidate for this honor unless she was between twenty-five and fifty years old, had good health, and was cheerful in disposition, without frivolity. And her official entrance upon the work of nursing hardly robbed her of the blessing of gratuitous patriotic service, since the compensation was twelve dollars a month and her keep. How does that strike a professional nurse of to-day?
But the spirit of helpfulness was not confined to special organizations; it seemed quite universal. Separate households planned and carried out benevolent enterprises to aid soldiers in the camps around the city. These soldiers were generally intelligent; many of them were from our academies and colleges. They were always glad to get good papers and magazines. In many households all such reading matter was carefully saved for them. At times when regiments of soldiers marched by our doors it was handed to them. They received it with avidity and often answered the attention bestowed upon them with hearty cheers.
But the distinctive classes of the needy gave rise to specialization on their behalf. Some expended their energies in helping white refugees, others in caring for the freedmen; the efforts of the latter resulted in the organization of the Freedmen’s Relief Society, in 1863. But all lines of special effort were generously aided by the Sanitary Commission. It was the central, controlling energy, and directed by it, the multiplied benevolent agencies worked in perfect harmony. They simply divided the labor that it might be more thoroughly done. The work was one, and behind all its multifarious details there was one spirit and one purpose.
But, however tempting the subject may be, I must not undertake to write even an outline history of the Western Sanitary Commission. This would require a volume, and it would embrace much that does not distinctively belong to our city. And yet we all bore some humble part in its magnificent work, and that work was all wrought before our eyes. But the country at large contributed to it, and the Federal government supported it with a liberal hand. In illustration of this take a single example. In opening the Home for the Refugees, the Commission expended three thousand dollars, the general government two thousand dollars. This is a fair specimen of the whole. All the generals of the Western Department heartily sustained it. So did the Secretary of War, and also Grant and Sherman.
I cannot refrain from giving a hint of the source, nature, and extent of the contributions, which the people poured out to help the Commission in its benevolent and patriotic work. Donations came from all the Northern States, especially, as might have been anticipated, from Michigan and the Northwest; but Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Boston were specially lavish in their gifts. They contributed much money, but also sent in boxes vast quantities of blankets, and bed-linen, of underwear and all sorts of comforts for camps and hospitals. By January, 1864, more than two hundred thousand dollars in cash had been received, of which St. Louis and Missouri had donated more than half; while the distant States of California and Massachusetts had each contributed fifty thousand dollars. But one million five hundred thousand dollars worth of sanitary supplies and hospital comforts had come to hand. From first to last the Commission received and distributed three million five hundred thousand dollars worth of useful articles, and almost a million of money, gladly given by the people. Among the cities of the Republic, the largest givers were Boston and St. Louis.
But if possible, let us get a bird’s-eye view of the manner in which these liberal donations were used. We have already seen how they made possible the founding and equipment of the various hospitals and Homes at St. Louis. But great as the work was there, it was still greater in the regions beyond. As early as October, 1861, the Sanitary Commission, under an order from General Fremont, fitted up two hospital cars, on the Pacific Railroad, with berths, nurses and all necessary arrangements for cooking. So far as I can discover, these were the first hospital cars in the United States, and they proved to be exceedingly useful.