The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-07-14
-s' az, GRAND
NATIONAL ~o ENTERTAINMENT,
'l'.'>f For the Benefit Of the J. u n
. LADIES' SOCIETY
In Aid OF the '
Suffering and Destitute Poor Of the South,


IN Aid OF the
Suffering and Destitute Poor Of the South,
Will take place
In Washington, D. O., August l.. '67.
NHE 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 pubic
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: .l-t
HDoUARTERs, Arm MILITARY DIST,
(MIssIssIPPI AND ARKANsAs,)
NIcKsBURG, MISS, May 13, 1867.
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 q
failure in crops and the absence of money
or its equivalent, left III want Of the neces-
saries OF life; and that poor women, with
large families of helpless children, so ac-
customcd 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 on 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.
Ofhcers 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 are 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 are 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 infest q country, and the
distressed families are often, by the time
necessity makes them want to leave, too
sick to travel on foot and there is no other
way to go.
Your proposed entertainment, Madam,
should it produce only funds enough to re-
lieve email fraction of the destitution of
this country, will be good beginning, and
similar appeals to people who have happily
never felt the desolation 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, E. o. G. ORD,
Brevct Major General
HEADQUARTERS, FIRST MILITARY DIVISION,
RICHMOND, VA, May Ii, 1867.
| Mrs. Hdrlo,ce NdtAe,-MY DEAR MADAM:
shall be too glad if anything can say
will aid the society in its noble work. A
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 a
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 a 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 encoura &c the growth
of healthy sentiment IN the South than
the generous aid which it is the mission of
! your society to invoke. l sincerely hope
| the noblo efforts of the society may result
in the most abundant success. 1 am, dear
Madam, very respectfully, Your obedient
| servant, j. NJ, SCHOFIELD, Mai. Gen.
HEADQUARTERS, SECOND MILITARY DIVISION,
| CHARLESTON, S. c., May IS, 1867.
The excellent purpose you have in view
cannot be too much commended. The lib
crafty OF the Government of the United
States, and the nlunificent contributions
already made for the relief of the wide
| spread desttution in the States, leaves
great numbers unprovided with food and
clothing. And until al 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 inpuver-
ished and afflicted population. With my
best wishes for the success of your UNDER
taking, remain, Madam, very respectful
ly. DANIEL I. SfCkLES.
Commanding Second Military District.
COLUMBIA, S. c., May 10, 1867.
| Permit me not only to give you the as
surance of my poor help in this your gen.
erous eIndeavor to relieve cur impoverished