United States Sanitary Commission records. Department of the Shenandoah archives

1864-1865

The USSC’s Department of the Shenandoah (also referred to as the Department of West Virginia), was based at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia from spring 1864–June 1865, and primarily provided supplies for soldiers involved in the Shenandoah Valley campaigns of 1864.

The USSC established an agency at Harpers Ferry in early 1864 but it was only sporadically active at first, under the direction of Colonel August Poten. In May, Union Army activities increased in the area, and Dr. Lewis H. Steiner appointed Colonel George A. (George Adolph) Mühleck (d. 1869), former Union colonel (73rd Pennsylvania Infantry) and USSC relief agent for the Army of the Potomac, to head up the new department as superintendent. The colonel was acquainted with Major General Franz Sigel, currently commanding the Union Army’s Department of West Virginia, having served with him earlier in the war. Mühleck relieved Acting Superintendent Charles C. Harris when he took charge at Harpers Ferry in May.

The Department’s scope was limited to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia, and Maryland between Cumberland and Frederick, and was considered to be connected to operations in the East. Occasionally troop movements necessitated sending supplies into territory typically under the purview of the USSC’s Western Department, whose West Virginia operations were based in Wheeling.

Mühleck established an agency at Martinsburg, West Virginia, and the Department began issuing supplies from there and the main agency in Harpers Ferry. Several battles and skirmishes occurred in the area in June and July as Major General David Hunter, now in command of Union forces, attempted to destroy Confederate crops, livestock and transportation. The USSC distributed supplies to many hospitals in the Shenandoah Valley and Maryland including to those at Frederick, Hagerstown, Pleasant Valley, Weaverton, Sandy Hook, Bolivar, Martinsburg, and Cumberland. It also assigned two relief agents to Hunter’s main column, based at Martinsburg. In early July 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early captured Harpers Ferry and Mühleck and staff were forced to evacuate across the river to Maryland. They returned to the town on July 8. Activity in the Department greatly increased in August with the arrival of Major General Philip Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah, as it attempted to defeat General Jubal Early’s forces, as well as Confederate guerrillas in the area. The USSC established a presence in the town of Winchester, Virginia following a battle near there at Opequon on September 19. The town was overwhelmed by numerous wounded, both Union and Confederate, and the Commission issued supplies from a depot within the main “Sheridan” hospital, with the assistance of the Union Ladies Association, a local organization. It established a permanent agency at Winchester following the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, as well as a supply station at nearby Stephenson’s Depot.

Supply work continued throughout the winter of 1864-1865 in the area’s hospitals. The Martinsburg agency was closed in January, and the department concentrated its supply efforts at Harpers Ferry. A soldiers’ lodge was opened at Stephenson’s Depot in February. As the number of wounded decreased and the war ended, work in the Department of the Shenandoah contracted and some supply depots were closed during the spring. The Department began to wind up its affairs and dispose of its remaining property in June; some work continued into July. Mühleck departed in June, officially ending his service on July 1, and was replaced by C.F. Howes who completed the closing of the Department.

Although their main function was to issue supplies, the Department of the Shenandoah also performed many other tasks. USSC personnel transported thousands of pieces of mail for Union soldiers, forwarded personal effects of the deceased, marked graves (at Winchester) and assisted families in transporting bodies, provided special relief for individuals in need on a case-by-case basis, and obtained information for the Hospital Directory. Over the course of its existence, the department employed approximately 25 relief agents and more than 40 workers (including storekeepers, drivers, cooks, washerwomen, and laborers) all of whom were paid a salary. The area’s terrain made relief work in the Shenandoah Valley especially challenging.

Within the USSC, the Department of Shenandoah reported to the Central Office at Washington. Mühleck originally reported to Dr. Steiner, the USSC’s Chief of Inspection, but following Steiner’s departure from the Commission in July 1864, he mainly corresponded with Rev. Frederick N. Knapp in the Washington Office. He was directed to report to General Secretary J. Foster Jenkins after December 1864. Relief agents in the Department reported to Mühleck, but also sent field reports directly to the Washington Office on occasion. Due to its proximity to Washington, the area was visited by several USSC personnel, including Jenkins, Knapp, John S. Blatchford and Dr. Elisha Harris, who was active in the area’s hospitals.