The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1864-02-27
Sanitary Commission.
!etter from Capt. WIN. Strawn.
e..------- Nashville Tenn. Feb, II, 1854.

Z
the same, and must say, in regard to It,
! that it brought to my mind at once All old
! tru;sm. tina. you have doubtless seen, viz
Tho nearer 3 statement is to the whole
! truth, and yet falls short of it, the better
! it is calculated to deceive, and the more
stspendous the wrong it may do, whatever
is affected by it.
l would by no means intimate that the
writer of the extract meant to injure the
sick and wounded soldier, or bring into
disrepu.e the Soldiers Aid Societies over
the whole land.
| That it is calculated to do tho latter.
your letter but too clearly indicates and
that its tendency to do the former think
a calm consideration of the subject will
prove. --
Let it be understood that in my use Of
the language sfthe extract would raise
no personal antagonisn with the author,
but by quoting his language, would en-
dcavor to show that his field of observa.
ton has Leen too limited to warrant the
charges against the agents of the Society
plainly inferrable from his language.
One very plain inference Is, that the
Sanitary Commission is q great ssindlc, or
all the men that have ever been in the
| hospitals, from the company to which
/ am attached, would positively declare
! that they have never had enough from the
Sanitary Commission to make one ration
l would insist simply that the writer OF
the extract confined his observations to too
narrow limits when lie restricted them to
the few men OF his company who have
(! been in hospital and to the personal effort,
Of surgeon Dyer.
! Now, tn. men of ny company, who have
been in hospitals, tell very different
story but that, toe, may be one sided and
narrow, and / will therefore proceed to
! give you the results of my own personal
! observations in nearly every hospital in
4 Cha,tano oga, Bridgeport aid Kelly Land
ing, extending in point of time, from Sept
22d, 1868, to Feb lst. 1864
! Knowing that great efforts and sacrifices
were being made at home for the welfare
Of our sick and wounded soldiers, ! felt
! anxious TO know whether your agents here
were worthy the high vocation to which
you had called them.
After the battle of Chicka,nauga, we had
many wounded aud M ,ssing A desire TO
find all these in the hospitals of Chatnoo>
ga, gave me an excellent opportunity TO
visi, all the hospitals and converse freely
with the inmates
10 the question Do you get anything Ct
the Sanitary p the substance of the reply
was almost invariably the following
| DO you see this clean mattress, and
sheets, and pillow aad qui!;, and soft shirt
and drawers and socks?
Eat do yon sc. anything to ca: frora
the Sanitary 2 Bless you, sc don't get
anything else that We csa eat. We have
dried fruit, and cheese and onions, and
butter, and potatoes sometimes, and 5! len
did apples now and then, and would tai; {.
more if transportation could 10 lad, and
then We have pickles, and lrcut, and sey-
eral things more. as much - the Govern
ment viii transport
great many OF the poor fellows made
these answers emphatic by declarin: that
the Sanitary hal sareli their lives. We
had 10 lay here right on the tlsor, wi n
our dirty and bloody clothes all on, unit
the sanitary men came in with mattresses
and quilts, ard clean clothes, and tea, and
bread aad butter, and spirits, which ouI
exhausted systems must have or perish
bu. IN. Government did not supply
That there we're 4 few who thought
they aad received nothia. from the SAM
tary, freely admit; bu. in all such cases,
where l had the opportunity to make in.
rtstigs.ion, the statement was made be
cause they had no. taken pains to learn
the dividing line between g rcrnmesta tai
: aad sanitary supplies Thee are sonns
, qucrulous persons, also. who are never
comfortable unless they can make them
selves e%ccediircly uncomfortable.
met with one notable case IN Deem
Der st Kelly's Landing. in the person Of 4:
captsir. He came to the sanitary agenc,
about the middle OF the forenoon, and
wanted cup Of hot coffee. Ike agent
told him that he would have to wait Ill
i, it could be got ready-the fire had gone
down and it would take some little time
The cc7y polite captain began t. swear
~ have never seen any good OF the San
it.ry yet Ny wife has given more than
, three hundred dollars to the society, and
a man can't get so much as z cup Of coffee
good Of it,
Now, 1t so happened that q few days
previous ! had known this sams agen,
spend nearly a whole night waiting on and
making comfortable lot Of sick and
wounded that came down from Cha,tanoo-
Ga the same time | did. on their way h ONE
on furlough.
: ! had observed tins same agent Of the
sanitary run aboard every boat tina,
touched at the landing, either day or sht
with hot coffee, bread, and butter, fol
whatever sick and wounded there Nigh
} be aboard Transient soldiers going &c
their regiments form hospital, or leave Of
absence on furleugh, were called for and
fed aud lodged by the Sanitary free, saving
them suffers extortioEs and relapse OIL
sick ness for want of shelter .
At Bridgeport observed similar attcn-
ton and energy on the part OF the soci-
stys agents. Basket after basket Of apples
were distributed through the cars, acce al
panied with hot coffee bread butter and
onions Careful inquiries were made in re
, gard to want of clothing Out OF little
more than two hundred on one train, ovsr
sixty were found without shirts, and ovei
one hundred without seeks. These were
Immediately supplied by the Sanitary and
went on their way thankful that there was
a Sanitary Commission at bridgeport.
Having made personal inspection Of the
doings OF the Sanitary ia the places named
With the above results, I feel justified in
believing that the great mass Of its a.en /.
over the country are alike faithful in the