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| A link with the folks at home sanitary commission officers and nurses at Fredericksburg, in 1864 After the first enthusiasm of the different communities had passed, and ‘folks at home’ realized that the boxes of edibles and wearing apparel they forwarded often reached, not their own dear ones but the Union soldier at large, speakers and organizers were sent out to stir the flagging interest in the work of the Sanitary Commission. Women who had been at the front, such as those shown sitting before the boxes and barrels in this photograph, told their experiences. Mrs. Mary A. Livermore began her career as public speaker by addressing such gatherings. The standard set was ‘a box a month for the soldiers.’ The presence of these nurses and supplies at the front after Spotsylvania was an incalculable blessing to the thousands of wounded soldiers and to the medical corps. |
