{"value"=>"<p>The Protective War Claim Association of the State of New York (PWCA) established its Bureau of Employment for Disabled and Discharged Soldiers and Sailors in late 1864. Almost from its inception in 1863, the Association had received numerous letters from discharged soldiers asking for assistance in finding work. The Bureau advertised to veterans in local newspapers and also solicited potential employers who might be willing to offer work to returning soldiers, particularly those who sustained some permanent disability.</p> <p>The Association’s Executive Committee, consisting of Howard Potter, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., and William E. Dodge, Jr., also functioned as the Bureau’s Executive Committee. They hired attorney and veteran Colonel Charles C. Nott to be its manager. He was the author of Sketches of the War: A Series of Letters to the North Moore Street School (New York, 1863), among other writings.</p> <p>Nott maintained a strong connection with Bureau after his appointment to the U.S. Court of Claims in February, 1865. In March 1865, he donated 500 copies, the copyright, and the stereotype plates for the second edition of Sketches of the War to the Bureau to be used to raise money for the benefit of disabled soldiers. The Bureau solicited agents throughout the North to sell copies of the book. Following Nott’s departure, Captain William S. Burns and Charles P. Sherman, both attorneys, served the Bureau of Employment respectively as secretary and assistant secretary.</p> <p>In the spring of 1865, the Bureau coordinated the Soldiers Messenger Corps to provide work for permanently disabled Union veterans, especially “one armed” or “one legged” men, who might be displaced from former occupations. Uniformed messengers were stationed at various buildings in lower Manhattan, and customers were charged set fees for deliveries based on the distance to final location. Records suggest that the Bureau ceased operations in early 1866, a time when the USSC was bringing many of its activities to a close.</p>"}