The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-07-07

NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT,
For che Benefit of tho
LADIES' SOCIETY
In Aid of tho
Suffering and Destitute Poor Of the South,
Will take place
In Washington, D. g., August l, 81.
NNHE Ladies' Society in aid of the Suf-
Il fering and Destitute Poor of the South"
would respectfully and earnestly call the
attention of the generous Northern public
to the great distress and fearful suffering
now prevailing in the Southern States.
Letters are daily received from the South,
from the Generals Commanding, Govern
ors, ministers and eminent citizens, fur
nishing the most heart-rending details Of
the actual want, famine and starvation in
their immediate neighborhood. The fol-
lowing few extracts from the very many
letters received by the Secretary and Ma
nagcrs OF the Society are respectfully re-
ferred to:
H'DoUARTERs, 4rH MILITARY DIST,
(MIssIssIPPI AND ARKANsAs,)
VICKSBURG, Miss, May 13, 1867.
1 am glad to see that the attention of the
gentle and humane ladies Of the North is
being turned towards the sad and desolate
condition of this once happy land.
You, Madam, surrounded with the plenty
and comforts of wealthy city, can scarcely
appreciate the fact that, in many parts Of
the South, whole communities are, by a
failure in crops and the absence of money
or its equivalent, left IN want of the neces-
saries OF life; and that poor women, with
large families of helpless children, so ac-
customed to depend on the labor of others,
that now, with no husband, brother or
servant to help, and no money, they do not
know what to do or where to go for food;
but are left in the solitudes of these South
ern forests, in rags and gaunt with hunger,
subsisting OH what the mother or larger
children can shoot or pick up in the woods,
or on what the few neighbors, nearly as
poor as they are, can bring them.
Officers 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 the group of little
starvelinGs waiting patiently mothers re-
turn with some OF the only sort of food
they had tasted for weeks; and women and
children have been found within sixty miles
of the capital of a Southern State, during
the past year, who had starved to death in
their lonesome cabins. These cases of
great distress arc rare in Southern cities,
for there, even the most delicately bred can
generally find some work which they can
do to keep the wolf from the door; but the
farms or plantations in the South arc pc
culiarly secluded, with miles of forest or
swamp between them, poor roads, and the
stock and animals nearly all taken by the
war, the famine, the floods, or the thieves,
who in such times infcst a country, and the
distressed families are often, by the time
M nal.
sick to travel OH foot, and there is no other
way to go
Your proposed entertainments, Madam,
should it produce only funds enough to re-
licve small fraction of the dcstitution of
this country, will be good beginning, and
may be followed in other cities North by
similar appeals to people who have happily
never felt the desoaiion and the horrors
which follow in the tracks of great armies
of invasion. God speed your society in the
good work, is the wish of, Madam, yours
truly, Z. o. c. ORD,
Brevet Major-General.
HEADQUARTERS. FIRST MILITARY DIVISION,
RICHMOND, VA, May II, 1867.
Mrs. Ndrlotce Mdthel-MY DEAR MADAM:
| shall be too glad if anything ] can say
will aid the society in it's noble work. \
large proportion of the people of the South
have suffered and many are still suffering
almost to the limit of endurance from the
devastation of war and subsequent failure
of crops. They are making every possible
eXertion to revive their Various branches
of industry and become self-supporting.
The liberal assistance which the Northern
people are we'll able to give, will relieve
great amount of distress, and will no doubt
be sufficient to place the poor of the South
beyond further suffering for food. The
recent manifestations of an almost univer-
sal desire throughout the South for really
fraternal reunion with the North, may well
serve to stimulate the generous sympathies
OF the Northern people, while nothing could
do more to foster and encourage the growth
of healthy sentiment III the South than
tho generous aid which it is the mission of
your society to invoke. | sincerely hope
the noble efforts of the society may result
in the most abundant success. l am. dear
servant, j. NJ. SCHOFIELD, Maj. Gen.
HEADQUARTERS, SECOND MILITARY DIVISION,
CHARLESTON, S. c., May 13, 1867.
The excellent purpose you have in view
cannot be too much commended. The lib
erality of the Government of the United
States, and the muniiicent contributions
already made for the relief of the wide
spread destitution in the States, leaves
great numbers unprovided with food and
clothing. And until an abundant harvest
enables the people here to do more for
themselves, trust the ever generous and
prosperous committees of the North will
continue their noble gifts to this impover-
ished and afflicted population. With my
best wishes for the success of your under
taking, l remain, Madam, very respectful
ly, DANIEL +. SICKLES,
Com m nd Gonnp6 NI;l;Iorx, t,;o