The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1867-07-03

TNIlE T.adics Society in aid Of the Suffer-
i ing and Destitute Poor Of the South"
would respectfully aud earnestly call the
attention OF tho generous Northern public
to the great distress nnl fearful suffering
now prevailing in The Southern States
Letters arc daily received from the South.
from the Generals Commanding, Governors,
ministers and eminent citizcus, furnishing
the most heart -rcnding details Of the actual
want famine and starvation in their immc,
diatc ncighborhood. The following fr,. ay-
tracts from tho very may letters received by
the Secretary and Managers Of The Socict Y
are respectfully referred to:
lfDouARrERs irH MlL. Dist,
MISSISSIPPI AND AnKAN8As,
Nicksburg, Miss, May 18th 1867.
gentle and bymanc ladies of the North is
being turned towards the sad and desc lat c
condition Of this once happy land.
You, Madam, surrounded with the plcn-
ty and comforts Of u wcalty city, can
| scarcely appreciate the fact that in many
parts OF the South, whole communities are,
by failure in crops and the absence OF
money or its equivalent left in want Of the
ncccssarics Of life; and that poor women.
Will, large families Of helpless children, so
accustomed TO depend on the labor of 9th :
crs, that now, with no husband, brother or
servant 10 help, and no money, they do not
know what to do or where to go for food :;
but arc left in the soliudcs Of these South
crn forests, in rags and gaunt with hunger,
subsisting on what The mother or larger
children can shoot or pick up in The woods
or on what The few ncighbors, nearly as
poor as they are, can bring them.
Oiiicers Of my acquaintance have met
with such mothers, long after dark, out in
the woods, with an old gun just fired, and
the coon or possum just killed; have gone
home with them and met tho group OF little
siarvc!ings waiting patiently mothcvs re
turn with some Of the only Sort Of food they
had tasted for weeks; and women and chill
drcn have been found within sixty miles of
the capital Of Southern State, during the
past year, who had starved 10 death in their
lonesome cabius. These cases Of the great
| distress are rare in Southern cities, for
| there, even the most dclicatcy bred can
generally find some work which they can
| do to keep the wolf from the door but the
, farms or plantations Of the South arc pccu-
| cuiarly secluded with miles of forest or
swamp between them, poor roads, and the
stock ANA animals were nearly all taken by
the war, the famine. the Hoods or the
thieves, who in such times inicst country,
and the distressed families arc often, by
the time necessity makes them want to
leave, too sick to travel on foot, and there
is no other way to 60.
Your proposed entertainment, Madam,
| should it produce only funds enough to re.
licvc small fraction Of the dcstiintion OF
this country will be q good beginning and
may be followed in other cities North by
similar appeals to people who have happily
| never fclt the dcsolation and the horrors of
| which follow in the tracks of great armies
of invasion. God speed your society in the
| good work, is tho wish of, Madam, yours
| truly, Il. 0. G. ORD,
! Brevct Major General.