Medical Bureau, endeavored to provide medicines and plain food for the sick; but it was not always possible, especially on a rapid march, or in the event of an unexpected battle, to provide even these; and there was still need of articles not provided by the diet tables of the Bureau, as well as of hospital furniture and clothing, beyond what the Department could furnish.

The scurvy, too, was to be provided against, and that direful evil which has more than once wrought such destruction in large armies, presented once and again its fearful symptoms, in the Union armies, only to be beaten back by the free use of vegetable food, and sub-acids, furnished by the watchful care of the self-constituted guardians of the soldier's welfare. The discharged soldier who had left the hospital faint, weak, and unôt for travel, yet homeless and shelterless, was also to be cared for and protected from the harpies, who would prey upon the unwary; the wages, bounty, back pay, and pensions of the weak and disabled, to be collected; and the watching, waiting, and suffering ones, who, at home, looked anxiously for intelligence of the condition of the sick or wounded husband, father, or brother, to be cheered by tidings of his convalescence; or, alas, sometimes saddened by the intelligence of his death.

This work was undertaken spontaneously in all parts of the country, by individuals and associations whose hearts prompted them to these noble deeds; but with so many irresponsible parties, many of them unexperienced, there was some clashing of interests and of labors; and while the intentions of all parties were pure and praiseworthy, the zeal with which their duties were performed, was not always according to knowledge. Yet a vast amount of good was accomplished by these earnest laborers. The hospitals were visited constantly and with untiring interest, and the sick and wounded received the ministrations of fair, highly educated and delicately reared women, who, moved to heroic deeds by their sympathy for the brave souls who had hazarded all for their country, gave themselves wholly to the work of caring for them; and following in the wake of the armies, brought food and cordials and medicine to the wounded and dying on the battle-field, as well as those gentle ministrations which so often aided powerfully in their recovery. The scorching sun of a semi-tropical clime, and the icy cold of the winters in the mountainous regions of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, were alike braved by these noble women, who, in numerous instances, sacrificed their own lives in the effort to save those of their brave defenders.

But as the war progressed, the necessity of gathering these diverse and somewhat intermittent efforts, into one common organization, grew more and more evident, and the Sanitary Commission, organized at the beginning of the war, for the systematic accomplishment of these and other measures of benefit to the soldiers and sailors, gradually drew the smaller associations, as well as many of the individual workers, into its own more comprehensive

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organization. Operating upon the loyal masses through its branches, and the twelve thousand auxiliary Ladies' Aid or Soldiers' Aid Societies scattered through every county and town of the loyal North, it reached the soldier in the camp, in the field, or in the hospital, ascertained his condition and needs, and the attention he received, supplemented with a liberal though not too lavish hand, the supplies allowed him by the Government, received him, when discharged from the hospital, into its "Homes," until his health was so fully restored, as to enable him to return to his home; collected for him, without charge, arrears of pay and bounties, and protected him from being fleeced by sharpers. Its agents and directors marched with the armies in the field, and ministered to the wounded on the battle-ground, and to the sick in the field hospitals. Its Hospital Directory recorded the names of every one of the sick and wounded soldiers in the general, post, and field hospitals, and gave a brief history of the progress and termination of each case, so far as possible, and this information was freely at the service of any friend, who would inquire for it, either in person or by letter. They also furnished, so far as practicable, employment to the soldiers after the war, and procured, without charge, pensions for the families of those who had fallen in battle. In these various ways, the United States Sanitary Commission disbursed in money and supplies, about seventeen millions of dollars.

The Western Sanitary Commission, a smaller, but exceedingly efficient organization, having its headquarters at St. Louis, operated mainly on the Mississippi river and its tributaries, and rendered most efficient aid to the suffering soldiers in the West. It also took under its care the freedmen of the Mississippi valley, and for many months gave aid and shelter, and help also, to the white refugees from the South. It expended, in money and supplies, between three and four millions of dollars.

There was a necessity also, for attention to the moral and intellectual welfare of the soldiers, and this, together with liberal supplies of physical comforts, was provided for by the United States Christian Commission, an organization having its headquarters in Philadelphia, but with branches and auxiliaries in all parts of the country. It sought to supply the religious and intellectual wants of the soldiers, by its chapels and chapel-tents, in which preaching and other religious services were held; by its supplies of bibles, testaments, hymn-books, libraries newspapers, and magazines, in field, camp, post, and hospital; and also ministered to the sick and wounded, aiding in all enterprises to promote their comfort and welfare. About four and a half millions of dollars have been expended by this Commission.

The wants of the freedmen, many of whom came into the Union lines in a condition of great destitution, and who were in pressing need of clothing, instruction, and the necessary implements for obtaining a livelihood, attracted the attention of the charitable, and numerous Freedmen's

Aid Societies were organized throughout the country, to furnish them with teachers and with whatever else they needed. Near the close of the war, these several societies were consolidated into one organization, the Freedmen's Aid Commission, co-operating with the Freedmen's Bureau of the Government; and in December, 1865, this organization fused with the American Union Commission, and the two henceforth form a single Commission, having for its object the promotion of the interest of both the freedmen and the white refugees.

The American Union Commission had, previous to this consolidation, been actively engaged in the work of aiding, instructing, and endeavor. ing to elevate the moral and intellectual nature of the whites who had fled from the South, and who were in great destitution and suffering.

The love for the brave defenders of the Union, and the spirit of patriotism and loyalty which the war evoked, has led to great efforts to hallow and beautify the places where the sons of the nation, dead on the field of battle, are laid. At Gettysburg, at Antietam, at Ball's Bluff, at Chattanooga, at Perryville, and at Stone river, cemeteries of considerable extent have been laid out, and the dead heroes have been laid there with all tenderness and love. The several States have borne their respective shares of the expense of these hallowed spots. But most sacred of all, his been that spot where, amid the horrors of cold, of nakedness, and of starvation, worse crowded than were the victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta, the brave but hapless sons of the Union who had the misfortune to fall into Rebel hands, fourteen thousand in number, welcomed death as the release from the brutal inhumanity of their jailors. At Andersonville, so soon as access could be obtained to that vile làzar-house, a cemetery was laid out, and the graves, so far as could be ascertained, each received its headboard, with the name of the quiet sleeper below. In this work of love and reverence, woman's hands assisted, and she who had been the soldiers' tenderest and most thoughtful friend in life, wept over the graves of those whose fate had been so cruel and inhuman.

The philanthropy evoked by the war in other directions, has been noble and large-handed. The famine-stricken operatives of Lancashire, of Ireland, and of the manufacturing districts of France, have received from the citizens of the United States food to the value of half a million of dollars; colleges have been founded or endowed with nearly ten millions of dollars, on the principle that a general diffusion of intelligence is the best safeguard against anarchy and rebellion; libraries, museums and scientific institutions have had their funds largely increased; twelve millions of dollars have been expended in relieving churches from debt, or erecting new church edifices; orphan asylums and homes for disabled and infirm soldiers have been established and supplied with

* Miss Clara H. Barton, of Washington.

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ample endowments, and the treasuries of every organization of Christian benevolence have been kept full to the overflowing, although they have greatly enlarged their operations. The nation had become during the long years of peace, like Great Britain, a nation of shopkeepers, but the rough hand of war has stripped the covering of selfishness from it, and has elevated and sublimated the motives and temper of the people in such a way as a century of peace could never have done.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

REVIEW OF THE WAR.

THE narrative of the progress of the war given in the preceding pages has necessarily confined itself to its battles and minor engagements; describing incidentally the tactics of particular battles or campaigns, but devoting less attention to the strategetic plans which prompted and guided its leading movements. It may be well to notice the principal campaigns of the war, and show how far they were the developments of a predetermined plan or plans of operations, having in view, as their grand purpose, the overthrow of the Rebellion.

In the movements of the summer and early autumn of 1861, it would be difficult to discover any well defined plan of strategy. With the exception of the short, and, as compared with the late war, inconsiderable campaigns of the Mexican war, the country had been at peace for nearly fifty years, and its citizens, devoted to the arts of peace, were wholly unskilled in the exercises and discipline of the camp or battle-field. Assembling from motives of the highest patriotism, at the President's call, they reached the heights around Washington with the fewest possible ideas of military life and its duties, and required, to fit them for efficient service, a training of some months, a longer period than that for which they had enlisted. The venerable Lieutenant-General, bending under the weight of three score and fifteen years, and infirm with the wounds of his earlier victories, found himself called upon to plan the campaigns of a war vastly exceeding, in extent and the number of its troops, any conflict with which he had been familiar in his more vigorous days, and this almost wholly with raw and undisciplined troops, and surrounded by spies, who communicated his plans to the enemy as fast as they were formed. Some weeks were, of course, consumed in reducing the chaotic mass to order, in arranging in regiments, brigades, and divisions, the brave but unorganized troops which poured, day after day, into the Capital, and the other principal points of rendezvous. Commanders were to be selected for the brigades and divisions; a delicate task, when hardly one of those who were placed in command had ever led any thing more than a company, or at most, a battalion, into battle. The QuartermasterGeneral's, Commissary-General's, and Surgeon-General's bureaus were to be reorganized and fitted for their greatly increased spheres of action. While this work was going on, and before the organization of the army was any thing like complete; when not one man in fifty knew his brigade commander by sight, and not one in five hundred his division commander,