U. S. Sanitary Commission

The U. S. Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a national, civilian-led government relief organization that contributed food, clothing, medical supplies, and other aid to the Union Army during the Civil War. During its four years of operation, it coordinated the volunteer labor of hundreds of thousands of civilian women and men in the North, raised an estimated $15 million worth of goods for the well-being of soldiers, and worked with the military to deliver medical care to the troops.

In April 1861, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to graduate from a medical school, and her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell, both of New York City, were the first to conceive of the idea of a national relief operation in the days following the onset of the Civil War. The Blackwells envisioned that their organization, the Woman's Central Association of Relief (WCAR), would train female nurses to work in the military hospitals and organize the contributions of volunteers in the soldiers' aid societies.

Unitarian minister and social reformer Henry Whitney Bellows, also from New York, joined the Blackwells in the WCAR effort. His meetings with government and military officials in Washington, D.C., and his tour of the camps and [Page 860]inspection of Union troops convinced him that the WCAR was too limited a venture to meet the extensive needs of the Union Army's grossly understaffed Medical Department. Bellows's trip to Washington in June 1861 inspired him to create a vast, centralized bureaucracy headquartered in Washington that would closely monitor the immediate needs of the military and communicate those needs to a massive network of local soldiers' aid societies throughout the North and West. Joining Bellows were New York attorney and social reformer George Templeton Strong, who became the USSC's treasurer, and Frederick Law Olmsted, chief designer of Central Park, who served as the general secretary. With Bellows, they formed a powerful national organization.

Although Pres. Abraham Lincoln was unconvinced of the nation's need for a civilian relief effort of this scope, calling the USSC a “fifth wheel to a coach,” he approved the new agency on June 13, 1861. In the early weeks of the USSC, Bellows issued a call to all citizens in the North to establish a soldiers' aid society in every village and town. These societies were instructed to raise funds for the USSC and gather donations of food, clothing, bedding, bandages, and other medical supplies. Under Bellows's direction, male USSC leaders and doctors helped organize and administer the Union military hospitals. These medical advisers also guided the military on the proper screening of recruits to ensure a healthy fighting force.

This illustration by Thomas Nast—showing the ways women participated in the work of the U.S. Sanitary Commission—appeared in Harper's Weekly during the Civil War. (© Applewood Books, Inc., reproduced by permission of Applewood Books and http://harpersweekly.com)

Although all citizens were urged to provide money and goods for the war effort, women performed most of the actual labor and were the primary fund-raisers and contributors. In fact, the soldiers' aid societies were [Page 861]directed by and composed primarily of women, though men also participated.

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