- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
About all I have read about these institutions seems to originate from civilians, high ranking officers, or the Commissions themselves. Never from the rank and file soldier.
I have just finished reading My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Vol. Inf, by D. L. Day (1884): a chatty, generally good-natured account of the day to day experiences of the ordinary soldier. He observes: "I have read a great deal in the papers of the Christian and Sanitary commissions, of the noble and humane work they were doing, and the immense amount of money contributed for their support by the people of the north and west."
Though he had been serving since Sept. 1861 (mainly in NC), he had never encountered any such commission until July 1864, when he was at the convalescent camp near the XVIII Corps Hospital at Point of Rocks, Va. Both Christian and Sanitary Commissions were located between the camp and the hospital; and both seem to have worked in the same way.
[LoC image]"I find they are little else than sutler's shops, and poor ones at that. These places are said to furnish without money ... such little notions and necessities as we have been accustomed to buy at the sutler's." And so they did, but apparently accompanied by intrusive interrogation and frequent lectures on "the bad habits of young men."
"After answering all the questions they are pleased to ask we are given one thin slice of lemon, a half sheet of paper, or a single chew of tobacco" (never any for later -- you have to come back).
"I seldom solicit any favors, and those are granted so grudgingly I almost despise the gift." One day he asked for a pencil, "I was handed a third of one. I got out of writing paper ... and was given a half sheet. By the time I finished my letter I had been to the Christians six times." Each time receiving a lecture on his "sins."
All in all, he decided he would rather buy what he needed from the sutler. It seemed less costly.
"I notice the officers fare better; they get in fair quantities about anything they call for." An enlisted man might be told they were all out of some item, yet "in a little while after some officer would call for the same thing and get it."
He concludes: "If the whole system of it throughout the army is conducted as niggardly as I have seen it here, there must be some superb lying done by somebody to account for all the money that is being contributed for its support."
My question is this: Was his experience unusual? What accounts do we have from private soldiers about the Commissions activities elsewhere?
Certainly it was not unusual for officers to receive superior treatment -- and the 'commonality' surely could not be trusted with more than a bare minimum (give him two pinches of tobacco & he'd probably sell one!) And religious do-gooders always accompany good deeds with sermons. But, was there ever a real accounting of donations received and services rendered?
I have just finished reading My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Vol. Inf, by D. L. Day (1884): a chatty, generally good-natured account of the day to day experiences of the ordinary soldier. He observes: "I have read a great deal in the papers of the Christian and Sanitary commissions, of the noble and humane work they were doing, and the immense amount of money contributed for their support by the people of the north and west."
Though he had been serving since Sept. 1861 (mainly in NC), he had never encountered any such commission until July 1864, when he was at the convalescent camp near the XVIII Corps Hospital at Point of Rocks, Va. Both Christian and Sanitary Commissions were located between the camp and the hospital; and both seem to have worked in the same way.
[LoC image]
"After answering all the questions they are pleased to ask we are given one thin slice of lemon, a half sheet of paper, or a single chew of tobacco" (never any for later -- you have to come back).
"I seldom solicit any favors, and those are granted so grudgingly I almost despise the gift." One day he asked for a pencil, "I was handed a third of one. I got out of writing paper ... and was given a half sheet. By the time I finished my letter I had been to the Christians six times." Each time receiving a lecture on his "sins."
All in all, he decided he would rather buy what he needed from the sutler. It seemed less costly.
"I notice the officers fare better; they get in fair quantities about anything they call for." An enlisted man might be told they were all out of some item, yet "in a little while after some officer would call for the same thing and get it."
He concludes: "If the whole system of it throughout the army is conducted as niggardly as I have seen it here, there must be some superb lying done by somebody to account for all the money that is being contributed for its support."
My question is this: Was his experience unusual? What accounts do we have from private soldiers about the Commissions activities elsewhere?
Certainly it was not unusual for officers to receive superior treatment -- and the 'commonality' surely could not be trusted with more than a bare minimum (give him two pinches of tobacco & he'd probably sell one!) And religious do-gooders always accompany good deeds with sermons. But, was there ever a real accounting of donations received and services rendered?