- unitid
-
{"value"=>"18779", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 18779", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1861-1865", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1861/1865"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1861
- date_inclusive_end
-
1865
- keydate
-
1861
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"United States Sanitary Commission records. Western Department archives"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"15.54 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"33 boxes, 13 volumes, 1 oversized folder", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"id"=>"MSS", "value"=>"Manuscripts and Archives Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The USSC’s Western Department, formally organized in September 1861, assisted soldiers involved primarily in the operations of the Western Theater through a far-reaching network based in Louisville, Kentucky for most of the war. Geologist and paleontologist Dr. John S. Newberry (1822-1892), an Associate Secretary and Commissioner of the USSC, led the Department. Western Department Archives, 1861-1865, primarily document the Department’s extensive supply distribution and relief efforts in the Western Theater, from its first base in Cleveland, Ohio (1861-1862) and later Louisville, Kentucky (1862-1865). Material is arranged by office or function and includes records for the Central Office, some agency offices, supply distribution, and Soldiers’ Homes."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>United States Sanitary Commission records. Western Department archives, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"United States Sanitary Commission", "type"=>"corpname", "role"=>"creator"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The USSC’s Western Department, formally organized in September 1861, assisted soldiers involved primarily in the operations of the Western Theater through a far-reaching network based in Louisville, Kentucky for most of the war. Geologist and paleontologist Dr. John S. Newberry (1822-1892), an Associate Secretary and Commissioner of the USSC, led the Department.</p> <p>The Department’s first headquarters was in Cleveland, Ohio; in October 1862, it moved its base to Louisville, Kentucky in order to be closer to the action unfolding in the Western Theater. Over the course of the war, the Department provided assistance to soldiers in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Kansas, and parts of West Virginia and Maryland. Those retuning to homes in or passing through the upper Midwest were also assisted in many ways by the Western Department and its branches. The Department conducted little work in Missouri, which was served by the St. Louis-based Western Sanitary Commission, an independent organization. Soldiers in most of Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast were assisted by the USSC’s Department of the Gulf.</p> <p>Like many USSC departments, the Western Department primarily conducted inspections of camps and hospitals in the beginning, but over the course of the war its two main functions became that of supply distribution and special relief.</p> <p>Supplies were procured for Western armies mostly through an extensive network of branches and soldiers’ aid societies throughout the Midwest. The Chicago (also known as the North-western Sanitary Commission), Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Kentucky (based in Louisville) Branches—all established in 1861—were prominent in the region, tapping into regional aid societies. Branches as far east as Buffalo and Pittsburgh were part of the Western Department’s network; Detroit, Milwaukee, Columbus, and Iowa were also home to organizations that supported the USSC. Western branches usually operated independently, running their own supply systems and financially supporting their own staff and facilities, though the USSC did provide some financial aid and occasional support if needed.</p> <p>Branches shipped their supplies—including fresh and pickled vegetables to combat scurvy—to Louisville (after October 1862) or to Cairo, Illinois, via steamer or railroad, often at reduced rates or no cost. Supplies were then forwarded to the numerous agencies and depots that were established during the course of the war based on troop movements or other needs. In early 1862, the Department was mostly active in Kentucky and Tennessee, especially following the battle of Shiloh. Agents also assisted Union troops at Corinth, Mississippi. In the fall, Western Department efforts were expanded, and the number of relief agents in the field doubled. Departmental personnel traveled extensively, with many agents working in numerous locations during the war.</p> <p>The Western Department maintained two primary areas of operation throughout much of the war: one that supported troops along the Mississippi River; the other assisting soldiers involved in the actions in Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga, Northern Alabama, and Georgia.</p> <p>Mississippi River operations stretched from Cairo, Illinois as far south as Natchez, Mississippi. An agency was established at Memphis in October 1862. Supplies were also distributed in the river towns of Columbus, Kentucky, and Helena, Arkansas. The Western Department supported troops involved in General Ulysses S. Grant’s siege of Vicksburg, and established an agency there after the city fell to the Union in July 1863.</p> <p>In Tennessee, an agency was established at Nashville soon after that city fell to the Union in late February 1862, and at Murfreesboro following the battle of Stone’s River in December 1862/January 1863. In the spring of 1863, an agency was established at Tullahoma, as Western Department personnel followed the movements of General William S. Rosecrans. Chattanooga and its surrounding area became a major focus for the Sanitary Commission in the fall, with agencies and depots set up along the railroad at Stevenson and Bridgeport, Alabama. The Chattanooga agency soon became one of the most active in the Department. A USSC presence was also established in Huntsville, Alabama, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Relief agents accompanied General William T. Sherman on his Atlanta Campaign in 1864, providing food and supplies at numerous locations in Northern Georgia from depots and temporary feeding stations.</p> <p>In addition, the Western Department distributed supplies in other areas including Leavenworth and eastern Kansas; Wheeling, West Virginia; Cumberland, Maryland; and Little Rock, Arkansas. Troops in Kentucky were assisted through agencies at Bowling Green, Lexington, Camp Nelson, and elsewhere. Agents at Camp Nelson and in Kansas aided numerous refugees displaced by the war. In the spring of 1865, the USSC assisted paroled and exchanged Union prisoners at Vicksburg, with many recently released from prisons at Andersonville, Georgia and Cahawba, Alabama.</p> <p>The special relief services provided by the Western Department were similarly extensive. The Department or its branches operated numerous soldiers’ homes and lodges, which provided temporary housing and meals for soldiers. Some also assisted soldiers with back pay, bounty, and pension claims, correction of papers, and transport. A few in the Western Department provided services to soldiers’ families, who were visiting or searching for their relatives. Facilities were established at Cairo, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, Camp Nelson, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Paducah, Columbus, Buffalo, and New Albany and Jeffersonville in Indiana. Some soldiers’ homes were run and financed independently by the local USSC branch, others by the Western Department, while still others had a combination of branch and departmental support during their histories. Most remained open until the summer or fall of 1865, with a few continuing work into 1866.</p> <p>The Western Department provided numerous other special relief services to soldiers and families. The Hospital Directory for the Department, based in Louisville with H.S. Holbrook in charge, documented sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals and answered inquiries from families and friends (see the Hospital Directory Archives record group). Local relief agents assisted with hospital documentation and individual queries; they also transported remains and effects, transcribed the headboards of hastily-dug graves, and noted and marked gravesites. Western Department agents accompanying General Sherman’s troops on his Savannah Campaign performed similar duties.</p> <p>The Department also operated hospital cars on the railroad lines and hospital steamers on the rivers. They assisted family members with travel and transport in the South. Agents maintained gardens in Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Knoxville, providing much-needed vegetables to area hospitals. The Department also hired a number of hospital visitors, mostly clergymen who visited soldiers in barracks, hospitals, and prisons. A pension and claim agency was opened in Louisville in the spring of 1863 by the USSC; Western Department branches also ran their own pension and claim agencies in Cleveland and Chicago. Other agencies were established in affiliation with the USSC's Army and Navy Claim Agency. In addition, some branches and agencies assisted discharged soldiers with employment searches.</p> <p>As an associate secretary heading a department with a large expanse of territory, Newberry operated somewhat independently, though he did report periodically to the Standing Committee and the General Secretary, and handled financial matters largely through the New York Office. The Western Department issued its own publication, The Sanitary Reporter (May 15, 1863-1865). The Department’s Central Office at Louisville closed in October 1865.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Western Department Archives, 1861-1865, primarily document the Department’s extensive supply distribution and relief efforts in the Western Theater, from its first base in Cleveland, Ohio (1861-1862) and later Louisville, Kentucky (1862-1865). Material is arranged by office or function and includes records for the Central Office, some agency offices, supply distribution, and Soldiers’ Homes.</p> <p>Central Office records consist mainly of letters and telegrams received and sent, most to or from Associate Secretary John S. Newberry. Letters and telegrams received are primarily from branches and soldiers’ aid societies affiliated with the Western Department, departmental agencies in the field, and the USSC’s Washington and New York Offices. Most letters concern the need for and transport of supplies from branches to agencies and depots in the field. Numerous items also pertain to special relief activities, especially the operation of Soldiers’ Homes. Letters from USSC’s Washington and New York Offices mostly concern personnel issues and assignments, finances, meetings, and issues with Western Department branches.</p> <p>Letters and telegrams sent are generally to Western Department branches and agencies, and to the USSC’s Washington and New York offices concerning supplies, special relief, personnel assignments, transportation and travel, and general departmental activities. Central Office records also contain some Western Department rosters.</p> <p>Agency office records include material for Western Department agencies at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, and at Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville, Tennessee. Material is mostly volumes containing records or copies of correspondence and inquiries regarding special relief activities (tracking soldiers’ whereabouts, disinterring and moving soldiers’ bodies, and recording patients and deaths in hospitals for the Louisville Hospital Directory), and supplies needed and distributed.</p> <p>Records documenting the Western Department’s supply procurement and distribution network are primarily inventories of supplies received at and forwarded from the central depot at Louisville, and of supplies issued from various locations in the field in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas.</p> <p>Soldiers’ Home records include registers for two of the Western Department’s Homes located at Jeffersonville, Indiana and Nashville, Tennessee, as well as one item for an unidentified location.</p> <p>See also the Louisville Hospital Directory records in the USSC Hospital Directory archives, (MssCol 19877). The Special Relief Archives in the New York, New York Archives, Historical Bureau (MssCol 22263), contain some letters and reports that address Western Department activities.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The United States Sanitary Commission records. Western Department archives are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/18779#c675089'>I. Central Office</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1861-1865</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/18779#c675183'>II. Agency Offices</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1863-1865</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/18779#c675198'>III. Supplies</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1862-1865</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Many supply volumes document work at multiple locations, presumably they were kept or re-used by relief agents as they traveled with the Army.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/18779#c675230'>IV. Soldiers' Homes</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1864-1865</div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by the United States Sanitary Commission to the Astor Library, 1879</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Melissa Haley</span>, <span class=\"date\">2013</span></p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Revised December 2013</p>"}
- note
-
{"type"=>"sponsor", "value"=>"The conservation, arrangement, and description of the collection was made possible by generous funding from the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust."}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"The conservation, arrangement, and description of the collection was made possible by generous funding from the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust."}
- extent_statement
-
15.54 linear feet (33 boxes, 13 volumes, 1 oversized folder)
- date_start
-
1861
- date_end
-
1865