The Western Sanitary Commission was a private agency based in St. Louis that was a rival of the larger U.S. Sanitary Commission. It operated in the west during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

to help the U.S. Army deal with sick and wounded soldiers. It was led by

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

s and focused on the needs of Freedmen. It was founded in St. Louis August 1861 under the protection of General

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

and under the leadership of Reverend

William Greenleaf Eliot William Greenleaf Eliot (August 5, 1811 – January 23, 1887) was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, and also contributed to the foundin ...

(1811–1887) and James E. Yeatman (1818–1901). Its first mission was to care for the wounded from the

Battle of Wilson's Creek The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, Springfield, Missou ...

. In its first six weeks it established four large general hospitals with over two thousand beds. It later set up convalescent facilities. A major activity was acquiring adequate stocks of medicines and medical supplies for the hospitals run by the U.S. Army. Working with

Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gene ...

it took charge of finding women to be civilian nurses and nurses' aides in Army facilities. The Western Sanitary Commission generally handled all sanitary affairs west of the Mississippi, and operated on a budget of $50,000 a month (about one-fourth the size of the rival national organization). The money came from private fundraising in the city of St. Louis, as well as from donors in California and New England. Parrish explains it selected nurses, provided hospital supplies, set up several hospitals, and outfitted several hospital ships. It also provided clothing and places to stay for freedmen and refugees, and set up schools for black children. It continued to finance various philanthropic projects until 1886.Parrish, 1990

Notes

of 1864 and the Practice of Civil War Philanthropy," ''Missouri Historical Review'' 95 (January 2001): 117–13
online edition
* Parrish, William E. "The Western Sanitary Commission," ''Civil War History,'' March 1990, Vol. 36 Issue 1, pp 17–35 * Rosecrans, W. S. "Annual Report of the Western Sanitary Commission for the Years Ending July, 1862, and July, 1863"; "Circular of Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair, to Be Held in St. Louis, May 17th, 1864" ''The North American Review,'' Vol. 98, No. 203 (Apr., 1864), pp. 519–53
in JSTOR
* Stillé, Charles J. ''History of the United States Sanitary Commission, Being the General Report of Its Work during the War of the Rebellion'' (1866)
online
{{Authority control American Civil War hospitals United States Sanitary Commission Hospital ships Missouri in the American Civil War

See also

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Further reading