The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1867-07-10
G:-Ka. IN III I'D
National Entertainment,
For the BENEFIT of
LADIES' SOCIETY
In Aid of the
SuIIcrins and Destitute Poor of the South,
Will take llaccin
Washington, ID. G., August l, 'G7.
G-X.2. IN M D

fNllE Ladics' Society in aid of the Suffer
l. ing and Destitute Poor Of the South, -
would respectfully and earnestly call the
attention Of the generous Northern public
to tho great distress aml fearful SUFFERING
now prevailing in the Southern States.
| Letters arc daily received from the South,
from the Generals Commanding, Governors.
| ministers aud eminent citizens furnishing
the most heart .rcuding details Of the actual
want, famine N! Il starvation in their immc.
diatc ncighbornGc'l. The following few cy
tracts from tac very may letters received by
the Seer tary and Managers Of The Society
arc respectfully referred to:
H'pQuARrrEs lru Mi. Dist,
MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS,
Nicksburg, Miss. May 18th 1867.
am glad to see that The attention of the
gentle and humane ladies Of the North is
being turned towards the sad and desc late
condition of this once happy land.
You, Madam, surrounded with tho plcn-
" ana comforts Of u wculiy city, can
scarcely appreciate the fact that, in MANY
parts OF the South, whole communities are,
hy failure in crops and tho absence OF
money or its equivalent, left in want of the
neccssarics OF life; and that poor women,
with large inmilics Of helpless children, SO
accustomed to depend on the labor Of 9TH
crs, that now, with no husband, brother or
servant TO help, and no money, they do not
Know what to do or where to 80 for food
out arc left IN the solitudcs 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 ncighbors, nearly ma
poor as they arc, can bring them.
Officers Of my acquaintance have met
with such mothers, long after dark, out in
tho woods, with an o'i gun Just fired, and
the coon or possum Just killed. have ronc
home with them and met the group Of lttlo
s'arvclinss waiting patiently mothers ro.
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 a Southern State, during tho
past year, who had starved to death in their
lonesome cabins. These cases of the great
distress are rare in Southern cities, for
there, even the most dolica,cly bred can
generally find some work which they can
ITO to keep the wolf from the door: but tho
farms or plantations Of the South arc pccu-
culiarly secluded, with miles Of forest or
swamp between them, poor roads, and the
stock and animals were nearly all taken by
the war, the famine, the floods or tho
thieves, who in such times infcst country,
and the distressed families nro often, hy
the time necessity makes them want to
leave, too sick to travel on foot, and there
is no other way to go.
our proposed entertainment, Madam,
should it produce only funds enough to re.
lieve small fraction Of tho dcsitution OF
this country will be n good beginning and
may be followed in other cities North by
similar appeals to people who have happily
never felt tho dcsoMtion and the horrors Of
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, T.. 0. G. ORD,
Brcvct Major. General.