Dr. William H. Van Buren was a member of the Executive Committee of the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC), as well as its Medical Committee. Other members of the executive committee were Henry W. Bellows, C. R. Agnew, Wolcott Gibbs,...
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Dr. William H. Van Buren was a member of the Executive Committee of the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC), as well as its Medical Committee. Other members of the executive committee were Henry W. Bellows, C. R. Agnew, Wolcott Gibbs, Frederick Law Olmsted, and George T. Strong. This collection of correspondence consists 103 items, most of which are letters sent to Van Buren by other members of the executive committee and by the U.S. Army Surgeon General's office. Some of Van Buren's outgoing letters are present. The correspondence includes discussion of the appointment of William A. Hammond as the U.S. Army Surgeon General, and subsequent tensions between Hammond and the Secretary of War, Edwin McMasters Stanton. Other subjects in the correspondence include the USSC's floating hospital, the
Euterpe; hospital inspections; and requests for nurses, dressers, surgeons, and other medical personnel. The collection includes a "list of wounded for the engagement of October 21, 1861" (the Battle of Ball's Bluff), and a form recording wounds and injuries of John Smith of the 79th New York regiment, illustrated with figure drawings.
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