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And she'll tell you about her presentation. yeah, I'm here to talk about the United States, Sanitary Commission, and I believe I've spoken with Some soapy have questions at any time. Just please let me know. I am a little rusty. It's been a while since I've been able to do this and I like talking about this as a very interesting. Subject on women's roles but it's not only women. It's men were involved to a lot of of course the men that had to deal with Washington. You know. We're at the top of this structure of volunteering but there were men in all aspects. But most of the work on the Sanitary Commission was done by women the day today where the organizing a lot of the ideas. So it's I always found it. Very interesting, the United States Sanitary Commission was formed in order to coordinate all these relief groups women's groups. Which is a ladies Aid. Societies Church groups Sewing circles at the beginning of the war. They all wanted to contribute, but they found out pretty quickly and some even before the war started that, if you did this on your own, you were not necessarily always very effective. There's a story of a woman who her son, she made a mature shirt and then she remembered he loved honey and the honeycomb. So she wraps up the Honeycomb. She then wraps it in the shirt and shemales it off to him and you can imagine what happened by the time he got it because she mailed itself. And it just was this Unholy mess. And there were a lot of other stories like that. So in April of 1861 in New York, At the Cooper Union, which still exists, they have a series of meetings. And they were to form a group that was called the women's Central Association of relief and the idea was to coordinate, particularly in New York, all these women's organizations so that they were acting together. They were duplicating efforts. They weren't missing things. And then somebody got the idea or people got the idea of let's make this bigger and they talk to women in other cities like Boston, Washington and they and then were involved because you needed them to go to Washington because they wanted this approved. They wanted authorized by the government so that they can go in no hassles. So they go to Washington, they get it authorized as the United States. Sanitary Commission, sanitary, there was a sanitary movement, that was a very big in the 19th century. It has a lot to do with General Health and Welfare of the populace. So they get that but all these groups still exist as themselves, they're not completely absorbed.

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So you're still your Sunday sewing Circle but you're now also the u.s. Sanitary Commission And what they do is they first, they need to raise money, they need to raise a lot of money because they want to build hospitals, and Hospital ships and trained. Nurses and send doctors and medicine. It's just one aspect and they come up with this idea of sanitary fairs, which is, as I said before a church fair on steroids. and it's In the big cities, they were huge. I mean, but they have them every small little town and Village. So they do this in the first big one is in Chicago and the kind of, like, poopoo do? Yes. Dear, you go to have your little fare. Well, they make such a huge amount of money than the reaction is. Well, when's the next one? And it's criticized as being frivolous in the time of war and everything like that. But it does publicize their cause plus they're there. They're breaking it in. And they're doing things with it. So they're building hospitals are building Hospital ships which can follow the Army's up. The rivers as you know, battles occur and get These medical care and just Support Services to the Troops, but again, totally separate from the army. They are not part of the army, the Army has Hospital ships to, they have hospitals and it's not like somebody comes in after battles that you're going to the Sanitary Commission ship and you're going to the Army's. It's who's there? It's they just need hospitals. They need doctors. They did other things, they would send inspectors to inspect military camps, which was not exactly the most popular thing among commanders. But they had checklists and I've seen copies of them and it was like they're they're definitely like picking up the lid of the Soup pot and looking in. And But there again sanitation is Big because you're more likely to die of disease than anything else. So I am. Do you have any questions? Yes. Better answered by someone who does a medical demonstration but they were not totally ignorant of them. They do have a lot of methods and proposals on how this, you know, how you can control infection and disease. It's more. I think the younger doctors that are familiar with this and actually, you know, believe in doing it. There's also that they don't have the time always. So even if you are a practitioner of washing your hands between patients sometimes don't have the time you are thinking of just keeping him alive, the next hour, the next day, And worrying about infection. If he survives Because it can be that, that urgent. Thank you. Even the understood washing. Your hand was, I think this is Next to Godliness. Lee was the saying, right? It's like you, you knew like dirt is bad. It's just that I not everybody made the complete connection but they do have Lister. I think blisters are ready. I have to ask one of the medical people that I believe Lister has already published some of his findings. So It's, it's not. Not know, it's just not necessarily used. We've all seen it takes a while for things to sink in, but, but I think a lot of it was just the time. Constraints, of course what happened in the hospital, that's another thing. They could have more time there. So, but a lot of these hospitals like a, the goal was cleanliness things were boiled. I mean, when they made, They had quilt. The Sanitary Commission, quilts work that famous they were made to a certain design. Not the designs in them but the sizes and they figured out how much would cover the average patient but not rape on the ground, they didn't want it to touch the ground because that would bring dirt and infection spread infection. So they knew it's just they might not know exactly what it is but they know there's a problem. But, you know, there was a lot of, you know, washing of the floors, washing of the walls washing of the windows. Lot of fresh air was prescribed, you know, if it's a hospital tent but the sides up when the weather's good, open the windows, get the fresh air in so they're on the road to it. I brought some books that if you're interested in this that you can like look for this one's old and out of print Brian. Gave it to me. Brian. She's well Lincoln's. Fifth wheel and this is like the first history that was really written about the Sanitary Commission. It's mostly about men mostly about middle-aged white men, but they were important to and but it talks about like the heads of the commission's and stuff and, you know General ideas but Not to mention the women. There, he gave me another book though. This one's very interesting Civil War Sisterhood, and this is about the women. And black-white rich-poor, married single. And some of it, I noticed, I haven't finished reading this one, but it does start like what happened? After the war and some of them just went back to their lives, but some of them got involved in other causes. So, that's a good one. I have this one. This is was written in night or published in 1999. And the professor who published it actually found out that I know for great-grandnephew itself. He's he's here today presenting on something else, but this is with courage and delicacy Civil War on the peninsula. And this is about the hospital ships. And some of the women that served on those and that was taken from Diaries and letters. This. This one is again, about 20 years old, this is a great book about all kinds of roles that women for filled in the Civil War and it's called separate battle, it's by of Chang, and it's a chill, it's for young people, but I have to tell you and even though it's that old, it's still a really good book. So I would remember recommend this one too. I have a cookbook that somebody that they had put together a similar, is it a name? And it was reprinted and friend of mine stack the last two copies and gave me one for my birthday but it's a sanitary, a cookbook from Bangor Maine and it was recipes that they were going to make and of think sell at the sanitary fair and Maine and somebody found it back. I think in the 1970s I mailed it to them but with no return address and they had in their business Oracle site, had it in their possession for years and then they finally just have the resources, you know, with modern technology to reprint it affordably. So, they did that. And if you ever see a copy grab it, because it's if you're interested in historical cooking, besides the sanitary, fair is really neat. And then I have a this is a copy of the bulletin I bought from. We call them somewhere sometimes or Merchants. They sell their goods to reenactors but this is a copy of the Sanitary Commission bulletin from April of 1865, I'm looking for others but this is the only one I've ever found. You know, I found other copies of this issue but not other issues but it has interesting stuff because it lists A ship that was going to Arkansas. And up the Arkansas River and just a list of the materials that this agent was escorting. It's 100 pairs of drawers. 76 towels. Dressing gowns, 2428 pairs of slippers. 600 pounds of dried fruit. My grandmother would have approved. Seventy five bottles of lime juice, and they've got the same of like Jamaican ginger. Beer bottles Catawba built bitters, they got, Shelly's crackers. 800 pounds of that. I thought it was 600 but it's 800 potatoes and onions, bushels hundred bushels of each T cornstarch. And then they also have medical supplies arm, sling, crutches whiskey, that's Medical Blackberry cordial. It says, yeah, it says Katana, bitter cata WBA kitab and yeah, I wonder now I have to look that up. My Grandmother Had. Yeah. Yes, in the big leaf, we used to use those as pretend plates. So now I have to look into that is that is that something like make and will I not poison anyone? But this also has lists of the board and everything. So, I'm the back so that the advertising, but I think one of the ones that everybody knows is from the Ken Burns, Civil War series as George Templeton strong, who kept a journal and quote from that journal lat, he was a treasure of the u.s. SC and That's what but his wife, his wife served on a hospital ship. So these New York Society people he's hope he's working on the home front. She's going to the front. So, and so, not all these men were stuffy, like, you know, oh, you know, the little woman, whatever, you know, there were people that were actually if everybody the Sanitary Commission and you can look through the pictures, you could see this Sanitary Commission Was well, I'm not saying integrated because but it there were plenty of people of color who volunteered who were active. And we're doing everybody was was working toward this cause and it was a lot better organized than it was in the South and the South. It's all, you know, you're sending stuff to the small company from your hometown. That's who you're supplying. And if you send them a whole pile of socks and they need shirts, maybe they can trade those socks, but nothing like the coordinated efforts if you needed socks, that get you socks. Well, hopefully I get your socks but the idea was that everybody would get what they needed.

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So, how am I? Because I'm totally at, yes. It has to do. There's a whole sanitary movement in in the 19th century and it's like the General Health and Welfare of society. Also you know later on they start cleaning up the cities. You know when you see pictures of like New York City in the late 19th century and it looks like they're dirt roads. It's not dirt. That's horse manure. Let's find the animals. So, you know that's involved, but it's not the only thing, but it's your General Health and Welfare, you could say, but it's the whole sanitary movement to subject in itself and very interesting because, you know, it got us to where we are today and we might not be alive. Yeah, there was a lot of health of our troops. Oh, Well, I'm enjoying the rain. It's been so hot. From the inside out. I mean like the foundation makes it easier actually to wear all of this. So for a woman like a corset can be very helpful because it gives you something to for all this to stand sit on the pass out here, carrying the weight here, you know, as women this is where we're we're like, we're strong here and this is like a good place like when I'm carrying something out of, put it right there so that helps distribute the way you know, not everybody Workhorse it but I'll tell you much rather wear with this. This than not. And then I have a cage. This one's really bashed. See, I've done bad things. That's white, duct tape. No. But it shouldn't have that. It should have cloth, but it was like every agency repair time you can see it. Yeah. And then I put it in the closet for a couple of years because I haven't been doing anything. It's like oh no. Well and they have a couple of petticoats all cotton one cotton linen. Will silk you don't want synthetics next to your body because I'm hot. Up right now. But I made like a lot of my underwear I've made. I didn't make the corset. I had someone make that for me, I bought the dress ready made from a woman who makes some really beautiful very accurate, Civil War dresses. So and then the Hat, the same, I there's no way that the technology to do this. These they make from Straw braid, and so together. So but it's yes, know, people always are because that's what everybody wears, clothes. Know everybody has clothes and food people ask about clothes and food. If you're ever, if you ever find yourself doing this, anybody, you know, some of you I think do you will get asked about clothes and food clothes and food because it's something we all relate to yeah, meet a lot of people. Well, as from yeah, can you parent stuff? Yes, you're walking in their shoes your as best you can. And you learn stuff, people come up to you and they tell you things like you did to me right here. What did you tell me about the monument? Yes and that you said well the Western Sanitary Commission and this lady the first thing she did when she was free. What did she do? And I didn't know all that and I knew that because I was doing a presentation and you talk to me. And that's why I think doing this, you really this exchange of information. This is something we all can do. I mean? if there's something that appeals to you, With like for me, it's a Sanitary Commission but there's all kinds of things that you can do. You just have to find, it's easy to find the information like the New York Times. You go to your library and you get on that. Usually have a subscription to like New York Times or some of the other old newspapers and you can go in their archives, search them and get articles on anything you're interested in. And you see it as it was written at that time.

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Anymore questions, comments. Thank you very much, V. Thank you.