The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-06-28
,.-...,-.--.--- GRAND
NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT,
For the Benefit of the
LADIES' SOCIETY
GRAND
Suffering and Destitute Poor ol the South,
Will take place
In Washington, D. G., August l, 81.
In Aid of the

In Washington, D. g., August l, 81.
FTNHE ''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 arc daily received from the South,
from the Generals Commanding, Govern
ors, ministers and eminent citizens, fur
nishing the most heart-rending details Oi
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
nagers of the Society are respectfully re-
ferred to:
| H'DQUARTERs, 4TH MILITARY Dist,
(AIIssIssIPPI AND ARKANsAs,)
VICKsBURG, Miss, May II, 1867.
am glad to see that the attention of the
gentle and humane ladies OF the North is
being turned towards the sad and dcsolatc
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 arc, by Il
failure in crops and the absence OF money
or its equivalent, left IN want of the ncces-
sarics of life; and that poor women, with
largo 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 90 FOR food
but are left in the solitudes of these South
crn forests, in rags and gaunt with hunger,
subsisting on what the mother OF larger
children can shoot or pick up III the woods,
or on what the few ncighbors, nearly as
poor as they are, can bring them.
Officers of my acquaintance have met
with such mothers, long after dark, out in
II. Il
the coon or possum iust killed; have gone
home with them and met the group of little
starvclngs 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 Il 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 delicatcly bred can
generally find some work which they can
do to keep the wolf from the door; but the
farms or plantations III 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 a 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 small fraction of the dcstitulion of
this country, will be good beginning, and
may be followed i'll other cities North by
similar appeals to people who have happily
never felt the dcsOlation and the horrors
which follow in the tracks of great armies
of invasion. God speed your society in tho
good work, is the wish of, Madam, yours
truly, L. o. c. ORD,
Brevet Maj jor- General.
HEADQUARTERS, FIRST MILITARY DIVISION,
RICHMOND, Va, May II, 1867.
MS. U0rIo,Ce Mdther-A:Y DEAR MADAM: /
shall ybc too glad if anything l can say
will aid the society in its 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 I
of crops. They are making every possible |
cXcrtlon to revive their various branches
of industry and become self-supporting.
The liberal assistance which the Northern
people are well 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 Tor food. The
recent manifestations of an almost univer-
sal desire throughout the South for q really
fraternal reunion with the North, may well
serve 10 stimulate the generous sympathlcs
of the Northern people, while nothing could
do more to foster and encourage the growth
of healthy sentiment in the South than
the generous aid which it is tho mission of
your society to invoke. / sincerely hope
the noble efforts of the society may result
in the most abundant success. am, dear
Madam, very respectfully, your obcdient
servant, j. NJ. SCHOFIELD,
Major-G General.
HEADQUARTERS, SECOND MILITARY DIVISION,
CHARLESTON, S. c., May 13, 1867.
The excellent purpose you have in viow
cannot be too much commended. The lib
crafty of the Government of tho United
States, and the muniicent contributions