Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-03-14
SOLDIERS AID SOCIETY,

By the assistance of our contributing
societies, we have been able to ship this
week carload (1s1 packages) Of stores
for the benefit of the sick at Nashville and
where the agents ofthe San
Itary Commission are waiting to receive
and distribute the much needed articles Of
hospital comfort.
These supplies went down by passenger
train, on the G. C. & C. R. R., in charge of
a special messenger, and embraced the fol-
lowing;
I69 quilts and blanketsi 800 pillows and
cases 400 flannel and canton flannel
shirts; 600 pairs flannel and canton fan
mel drawers; 700 pairs wOOlen socks; 100 |
pairs slippers; over 1900 lbs. dried fruit |
At barrels of green apples, onions, pOta- !
toes, &C.; 200 lbs. butter and light grocer
les; besides many kegs Of pickles, apple
butter, cider and vinegar, quantity Of
surgeons stores, reading matter, and many
miscellaneous articles.
From G gentleman of this city, in the
service of the Sanitary Commission, and
now at home upon short furlough, we
have received many interesting items con-
eerning the work of distribution among
hospitals Of Nashville and vicinity, and
have derived much encouragement from
his uneoui7ocaI testimony on the subject
Of the good arising from the efforts Of the
Soldiers Aid Societies of the North. We
would that every patient loyal labOrer in
this work might feel with us the stimulus
that is impaired by the recital of the expe-
rience of one who has been an eye witness
to the scenes Of the battlefield o. the
hospital, when the hand of northern gn-
pathy has poured the oil and wine Ofna h
ern generosity into the bleeding wounds
Of the PROSTATE and suffering victims Of
our common cause.
The letters that we have lately published
from agents, inspectors and others from
the Army of the Mississippi, show degree
of sickness and destitution that have deep
ly stirred the sympathies of all readers.
They do not, however, confirm the exag-
gerated stories of heartlessness on the part
of surgeons, or of criminal neglect of pur-
veyOrs, that have found their way into the
public prints from the pens of malicious
persons, or Of those inexperienced in judg-
ing Of hospital practice. It is the refine
ment of cruelty to inAict upon the friends
of the soldier these needlessly enlarged
statements of his sufferings, or to cast sus-
pieion upon the surgeons to whose care he
is subjected. We have the best reasons
for believing that the state of things exist
ing in the hospitals of the Mississippi is
not chargeable to any criminal lack Of
interest or efficiency on the part of the
officers of the Medical Department, but
that it arises from the exigencies of th'
situation; therefore the appeals that come
to us from that region should have double
weight Of influence upon our generosity
since we have it in our power to assist il
removing the great evils which our soldier
friends are now suffering.
The special calls we have made for veget
ables and acid food, have already been an
swered in some degree, and we trust that
few days will find US prepared to send to tn
expected hospital steamer the first install
ment Of the 500 boxes which we hope t
VIII are WUrKIhg rJuGiuo .IFs LegIl gu l5td
pose, we gratefully offer our best wishes
and assure them that the stores they ar
laboring to collect, shall have safe anc
speedy transport through our agency t.
the point of greatest need.
To relieve, in some measure, the snxiet!
Of those who have friends in Grants army
and who have been unduly agitated by tn
reports alluded to above, we insert the fol
lowing extracts of letters from DR.. H. A
Warriner, Sanitary agent at Memphis:
Rooms OF TIE U. s. SANITARY COMMISSION, /
MEMPHIS, Tenn, Feb. 24, 1858.
DR. ]. s. NEWDERRY Dear Sir,-@
Diverse reports begin to come in Of thu
condition Of things below Sanitary agent!
and citizens continue to report the situa
ton as desperate and tragieal. Medica
officers give q much more subdued picture
DR.. Sutherland, Medical PurVeyor, who hsi
returned from the feet within a week, de
clares the account Of mortality in psrticu
lar to be gross exaggerstion; also the &C
counts of q scarcity Of medicines. On thu
other hand, equally truthful men affirm
that they found in many camps well nigl
total absence Of medicines, the Surgeons
in charge declaring that they are not to b'
had in that region. A sub purveyor il
stationed with the feet on q steamer anC
assures DR.. Sutherland that he has fail
supply of requisite stores. Meanwhile ar
investigation into this matter Of medicR
supplies or no supplies has been ordered
by General Grant, 80 that the facts will be
attainable in time. 1 shall make it poini
to investigate for myself on arriving there
Mud and bad weather are condi.
tions common to the whole force but de.
tention in the transports after arriving al
the seat of war is not. The first corps
General Sherman's) that went down, suf
fered most in this respect. Indeed 1 sus.
peet there are greaten diversities oi
condition amongst the different bodies
of troops than we have yet received any
account Of, and this may be the reason Of
the diverse reports.
The difficulties in getting about seem to
have been so far yielded to by all inspec-
tors, agents and officials as to forestal any
comprehensive survey Of the sanitary con-
dition Of the army.
L must mention an item, small but sig
nifcant: An honest old farmer from
| Northern Indiana has been here some
weeks watching over his sick son. He has
just been into my Office to confess to me
that he and his neighbors had long since
ceased sending supplies to the army be-
cause Of the monstrous reports that reach