Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1865-11-17
For the Daily COmmercial,l
Scenes Among the Soldiers Families

Follow me through this dark, cherries passage;
ascend these narrow stairs; the second, third and
fourth stories are passed; at length the attic is
reached. How heavy and stagnant is the air! The
ceiling is low, and covered with large stains where
the rain has leaked through. The furniture of the
consists of bed few old chairs and a stove.
Its inmates man. lone of those wrecks Of hu-
manty which war always leaves in its train) his
wife, and sckly child. The wife tells me they once
saw prosperous days; their shop yielded them COM
Portable support but they dared to unfur the Ma
tional flag soon after the memorable nineteenth of
April. Their customers forsook them poverty came
and her husband enlisted. She opens his linen to
show me the wound he received at Antietam. At
present he is suffering from severe illness
He has lost his hearing, and the use of his
lower limbs, and whilst [ stand beside his bed has
paroxysms of pain which make him writhc in agony.
They are destitute of any comfort The money
give them is received with profound gratitude for
the wife tells me as l entered she was about to go
out to ask for little bread" received this morn
ing petition to visit soldiers family in B. court
The wife welcomes me as one who had mnistcred to
her and her children during the war; whilst her hus
band was with his regiment, in Tennessee. He now
entered the room on crutches At Pittsburg Landing
he was severely wounded, and after suffering untold
agonieS, his log was amputated in the hospital He
is now suffering from ague but tells he will do
well enough when he RECEIVERS his strength that Gov
ernment allows him patent leg, and there is always
somebody to help the poor soldier" am surprised
at his cheerfuncSs, for, saving what is given them
thcy have not dollar in the world, and winter
is coming on. / wonder what would become of
the L. family. if it were not for my aid says
q lady of the Relief Association. A returned priS
has Just told them that he saw their father die
of starvation at Andersonvie. and if it not for
think his little children would die OF starvation
in this good city of Baltimore. For two years they
have literally lived on fragments from my table
The youngest child comes every morning to our
house for cold coffee and bread and if he is not back
in time, the next child goes fasting to his work =
Reader. is this suitable provision for the orphans
of patriots whose sad fate will forever be dcporcd?
Is this the welcome you extend to men whose brows
Ito use the poeticaI slang of the day crowned
wi unfading laurels? In all future time it will be
the delight of the historian to record their deeds,
and will not your children blush when they hear
that your heroes have died of want at your very
doors? Think not these are sensation stories They
are mere specimens Of what comes every day under
the observation of the Soldiers Relief Association
All but you say surely Uncle Sam takes good care
OF all his nephews But these are no longer
Uncle Sans relations. Times have changed since
you saw them march proudly forth to sound of fife
and drum, under the gaze of the admirng throng I!
Despoiled of their health and manly vigor they are
now simply the worn out, used up material Of the
Central Government. Many of them have come back
to seek decent place in which to die No sooner
was the war closed than Government commenced the
necessary work of retrenchment The hospitals
vacated and dsmanted by special ORDERS and their
inmates turned upon the world. Every State in the
Union should then have had home ready for her
suffering sons but alas ! not one ready. small
low barrack Oregon street, not capable at its ut
most capacity of accommodating moro than twenty
men, and supported by the exertions of few patriotic
ladies, was the only provision made in Maryland.
There the blind, the sick, the manned soldier
daily seeks admittance, and daily is he told There
is no more ROOM" A recent appropriation from the
City Council will enable these ladies to enlarge the
sphere of their labors, but by far the larger
proportion of disabled soldiers in midst still
unproyided for All but you say there is their pen
sion! Government allows them each eight dollars
per month We have carefully examined this subject
with competent aid and fully convinced that not
one-ffth of disabled men in receipt Of their
pensions. The slightest inf0rmatyi made sufficient
by interested officials to invadate soldiers papers,
and the department at Washington to which the SOL
diers documents consigned may too often be
pared to that bourne from whence no traveller re-
turns" And even supposing he does receive the
of eight dollars per month, what is that for house
rent fuel and provisions at the present rates? They
must be helped perish; for numbers of our men
would rather starve than be classed with paupers in
| an almshouse. The spirit which took them to the
battle field still actuates them Mothers, these men
| have received the bullet and sabre thrust which
| might otherwise have been destined for those you
love and cherish Fathers that freely shed their blood
in defence of you and your property. For four
cessve years it has been delight to read of what
| the brave boys were doing at Antietam Gettys-
| burg Atlanta, Charleston, Richmond, and hun
dred other we'll contested fields and will you now let
them die of want in that wretched place which they
| call home? Women of the Union Relief the Chris
| tan and Sanitary Commissions, where is the zeal
which hurried you daily to the hospital? aye,
carried you even to the field of carnage Then you
ministering angels but what are youdoing now
Your work is not done The helpless orphan is yet
to be housed from the wntry blast the wounded hero
is yet to be sustained and strengthened If you would
again engage in your blessed work, meet the Soldiers