Western Sanitary Commission
Published: 2018-02-04
Total Pages: 50
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Excerpt from Report of the Western Sanitary Commission, on the White Union Refugees of the South, Their Persecutions, Sufferings, Destitute Condition, and the Necessity of Giving Aid and Relief on Their Coming to Our Military Posts For nearly two years the Western Sanitary Commission provided a Refugee Home on Elm street, where, under the humane direction of the late john cavender, Esq., the necessities of this class of persons were relieved. During this time, in money, and a large amount of clothing, were obtained for them by the Commission, and a further sum of was raised by an order of Major Gen eral halleok, assessing the wealthy secessionists of Saint Louis for this object; all of which was judiciously and faithfully expended by Mr. Cavender. In August, '63, there began to be further arrivals of destitute refugees from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Many of them were women, with small children, poorly clad, often bare-footed, brought up the river on Govern ment steamers, and landed here, without the means of procuring a place of shelter for a single night. Their husbands had been killed in the war, had been murdered by guerrillas, had been conscripted into the rebel army, or had died from the effects of exposure, in lying out in the woods, in dens and caves of the earth, to escape the blood-hounds of the rebel conscription. At first, these poor refugee families fell into the hands of the police, but the police station was not a fit place for them, although some of them found shelter there. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.