Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-05-09
SOLDIERS AID SOCIETY.
IS BE srnrrr. cErvrIAxp.

wi ~ AN9RkA1N1 Na@A /
,ur heavy shipment Of the 18th, we hope
10 be able to send forward another car
.oad of stores on Monday. The import
lnce Of vegetable diet at the present time
to the health Of our troops, is impressed
upon US az strongly as ever by the In
of the Army, and we have our
selves too often urged the value Of these
to render its repetition necessary.
We would recommend to our branch So
the purchase of potatoes and onions
where they cannot be obtained otherwise
in sufficient quantities.
A letter from Mrs. DR.. Hopkins, dated
Nashville, May 2nd, says: awe have just
received a large shipment by the Imperial,
a portion Of which has been r%eshipped to
Murfreesboro'. Mr.. Robinson is now at
the depot attending to the forwarding Of
n hundred barrels which cnme in per rail
road last evening. : . Three companies
of the ID Indiana Cavalry have just been
here to procure vegetables, and I have had
the pleasure Of giving them six barrels
of potatoes, onions, dried apples, sour
krOut, pickles, and twelve lemOns to each
company. 1t was a pleasure indeed, for
the boys were SO thankful to get them.
All medical men agree that there was
never anything more needed than are
articles of vegetable diet. I heard DR..
Hamilton say to-day That one hundred
barrels Of potatoes a day, for the next six
months, would be the best thing the North
could do for the army"
1t is with great pleasure that we repuD-
lish the following letter just received from
DR.. A.G. Hart the weIl-known surgeon of
the 41st Owl. His long experience in
the Hospitals of Tennessee and Kentucky
will render hist evidence peculiarly valu-
able;
HasrrrAL DEPARTMENT 41sr REer., O. VIII
CAMP REEDTvrIIE, THEN.s April 3Oth, 1863.
Mas. B. ROUSE, President SOIDIER's AID
SOCIETY
Being recently at mY hnmein Hartford,
Trumbul Co, o., on leave for q few days
from my regiment near MurfreesborO, Ten
nessee, | met many enquiries respecting the
value of your labors, the faithfulness Of
your agents, and as to whether the sup
plies forwarded through your society are
used solely for the benefit of the sick.
Anticipating that 1 should meet these or
similar questions, 1 made such enquiries
at the hospitals and among surgeons of
my acquaintance, as 1 thought with my
previous knowledge would enable me to
answer correctly.
Will it be any encouragement in your
labors if l say what you seem to me to have
accomplished, and whether, in my judg-
ment, the results are sufficient Importance
to compensate you o your efforts, and those
who contribute the supplies for the self
denial their gifts may cost them.
The government provides amply for the
wants Of the soldier while in health, and l
doubt if there ever wa an army in the
field better fed, clothed and provided for
than Gen. Rosecrsn's is to-day. Il pro-
Vides, too, in q general way for the sick +;
and the large and now usually well ar
ranged general hospitals, with their corps
of surgeons, nurses, and attendants, show
the care of government, and the great i'm
provements made in this department of
the army.
But, nevertheless, there are many aTti-
Giles needed for the sick and convalescent,
especially such as provide for their minor
wants, and with which the humblest
at home are supplied, and such as I
am sure mont of us would be willing that
our sick friends in the army should be de-
prived of, which are not included in the
supplies the government furnishes, and
can not well be on any system 1 Am &C
quainted with.
1t is here that your labors are most fell,
for while not unfrequently the only
source from which to procure indispensi-
BILE supplies, it is chiefly to supply what
government does not that your efforts are
directed. It is easy to say that govern
ment ought to furnish all that the sick re-
quire. 1t is at best unWieldly in its ap-
/ plisnces, and often seems to find more diff
iculty in small enterprises than in great
ones. Iron-olads are built and moved
much more readily than the lesser calls
upon it are provided for. Whatever the
reason may be, two years e1per' ence
seems to have convinced the authorities
that there is a part of the work to which
individual enterprise is best adapted.
The appreciation Of your labOrs is shown
by the fact hat on lines of t~ranspor-
tation where none but government freight
is permitted to pass, your stores are order
ed to be sent forward as fast as they ar
rive. Every facility is afforded your
agents to enable them to ascertain where
your stores are most required and to dis
tribute to the most needy. And as at
home the Express is often in advance
of thej /" Mail so it has often happened
that yours were the first supplies to
reach the spot where they were greatly
needed.
wish our friends could appreciate the
keen Zest it gives to the reception in q sick
room of some needed article, to know that
it comes from home. The encouragement
it gives, and the new hope and enere-
gy it infdses into the sick soldier double
the value of the gift, as he feels that he is
not forgotten or neglected. At home no
sick room would be thought complete in
its arrangements unless female hands and
thoughtfulness had contributed to its COM
forts. The sick soldier instead, often
looks around only on the bare walls and
floors, or down the long rows of cots. But
he will many times have reason to bless
those who through you supplied him with
relishing food, with vegetables, with his
only reading matter, and with many arti-
eles Of comfort and almostindispensa5le ne
cessity, which he must have been totally
deprived Of except for your society.
The prompiness with which the q. S.
Sanitary Commission furnish intelligence
of the sick is feature of great value and
gratifying alike to the sick and to other
friends.
Let me allude to one or two incidents as
illustrating some of the wants which you
have supplied and Witch come under my
own observation.
At the field hospital, after the battle Of
Stone River, a man dangerously wounded
and much reduced, needed and greatly de-