Feinberg/Whitman Box 14 Folder 21 General Correspondence Price, Abby H. Oct. 11, 1863 & undated[envelope] sent Oct 15 [?] Mrs PriceWashington Oct 11 1863 Dear friend Your letters were both received & were indeed welcome - don't mind my not answering them promptly, for you know what a wretch I am about such things, - but you must write just as often as you conveniently can - tell me all about your folks, especially the girls, & about Mr Arnold - of course you won't forget Arthur [Should you feel willing, send me some one of Arthur's letters, & I will preserve it & return it to you.] Tell me about Mrs Urner & the dear little rogues - tell Mrs Black she ought to be in hospital nursing here, only it is a harder pull than folks anticipate. You wrote about Emma thinking she might, & ought to, help as a nurse for the soldiers - dear girl, I know it would be a blessed thing for the men to have her loving spirit & hand, & whoever poor fellows had them, would feel it so. But my darling it is a dreadful thing. You don't know these [fearful] wounds, the sicknesses, the [awful] sad condition in which many of the men are brought here & remain for days the wounds sometimes full of crawling corruption &c &c - down in the field hospitals in front they [often] have little or no attention, & after a battle lay for days unattended toDear Abby, I think often about you & the pleasant visits I used to pay you, & how good it was always to be welcome. O I wish I could come in this afternoon, & have a good tea with you, & have [two or] three or four hours of mutual comfort & talk all of us, [being] & be together again. Is Helen home and well? and what is she doing now? And you my dear friend, how sorry I am to hear that your health is not rugged --but dear Abby you must not dwell on anticipations of the worst. I know [too] that is not your nature, or did not use to be & O I [do] hope this will find you feeling quite well & in goo spirits. - I feel so well myself I will have to come & see you I think I am so fat & out considerable in the air & so red & tanned & so running over full of health I feel as if I wish & ought to go among all the sick & deficient to diffuse it as it were - & O how gladly [truly dear friend] I would give you a liberal share dear Abby, if such a thing were possible. I am continually [moving around?] among the hospitals, one I go often to is Army Square, pretty large, very little visited, not very attractive to ladies. [but] generally full of bad [cases] wounds & sickness.The United States Christian Commission Was organized by the Young Men's Christian Associations, for the purpose of promoting the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Army and Navy of our Country. It sends its delegates as volunteers to battle-fields, to aid in the care of the wounded on the ground, and in removing them to hospitals; also, to hospitals, to aid chaplains where needed, and to act as chaplains in such hospitals and places as have not been supplied by the Government, and to camps of our soldiers in the service. The stores sent to the Christian Commission, [if specially designed for any particular person, or regiment, or hospital, are faithfully sent, without charge, to those for whom they are intended. If sent for distribution where most needed, they] are distributed by our own agents or delegates in person. The demand upon us is daily increasing, and stores of all sorts are urgently needed, especially such as are designated herein. But of all donations, MONEY IS THE BEST. We can purchase with it the right things at the right times, and can purchase at greatly reduced prices. The vast numbers now in the service, and entering it, and the thousands of sick and wounded in the hospitals call loudly upon the people for help, whilst the eagerness of their friends to send help is as great as theirs to receive it. Already more than [seven hundred] 4000 boxes and barrels of books and stores have been sent to our men, and over [one] 3 hundred gentlemen of the highest respectability have gone as volunteers to distribute them, and to give sympathy, instructions, and prayers therewith. The Commission will endeavor to distribute everything committed to them by everybody, in any and every part of the field, in accordance with the purpose of its organization, accompanying each distribution with the consolations of the Gospel. The following instructions will aid friends of our soldiers and sailors in deciding what to send, and how to pack, and how to direct that they send: I. AS TO WHAT TO SEND.—MONEY IS BEST OF ALL. It is injudicious to spend money or labor for trifling articles. Clothing is greatly needed, such as cotton shirts, woollen shirts, woollen socks, Canton flannel drawers, woollen drawers, surgical shirts of the same pattern, but tied with tapes down the sides and sleeves, instead of being sewed; cotton drawers large enough to serve as pants in-doors, dressing gowns, slippers, sheets and pillow cases, bandages of muslin, four to six yards long, and three or four inches wide, rolled up, each by itself, but not fastened; lint, picked, not scraped, wash-rags, handkerchiefs, and small hair and feathered pads for fractured limbs. OF STORES—oatmeal, farina, corn-starch, dried rusks, soda biscuits, jellies, fresh fruits, dried fruits, lemons, white sugar, brandy, wine, bottled ale and porter, beef tea in cakes, canned meats for soup, good black tea, cranberries, pickles in kegs, good fresh butter in small stone jars, barrels of onions and apples, and tin cups: all these are always wanted. TO AID THE SOLDIERS IN CORRESPONDENCE,—paper, envelopes, and pencils. OR READING MATTER for convalescents, a library is a valuable hygienic appliance, and for the able-bodied, good publications are mental and spiritual food. For convalescents, lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the pictorials, the works of science and literature, as well those for moral and spiritual culture,—such as you would put into the hands of a brother after severe illness, are such as are wanted; and for the well, also, good interesting books, tracts, and papers. Those designed specially for the soldier and sailor are the best, but send no trash. Our noble men love and deserve those that are fresh and the best. To suspend in the hospital, The Silent Comforter, Green Pastures, and Choice Hymns are excellent. II. AS TO PACKING.—Never pack perishable articles like eggs, sausages, bread or cakes, nor jars of jellies and jams, with other goods. Never send perishable articles unless specially called for, to supply some place to which they can be immediately sent. Pack eatables by themselves in separate boxes. Tin cans should be always soldered; all other modes are worthless for the army. Stone jars of jellies should be corked and firmly bound with oiled linen or leather over the cork, and packed in sawdust or hay, in boxes very tight, never exceeding a dozen and a half bottles in a box, and nailed strongly, to bear tipping. Boxes should not be so large that two cannot conveniently lift them into a wagon. III. AS TO DIRECTIONS.—Mark: "GEORGE H. STUART, President Christian Commission, 13 BANK STREET, PHILADELPHIA." Mark, also: From _______________[giving place and donor's or Society's name.] No. 1, 2, 3, &c. [numbering on from the first sent to the last.] Mark legibly with ink or paint on the boards (cards rub off). Send, by mail, an invoice, on paper about this size, and written only on one side, specifying the articles, and the marks and numbers of each package, and giving the Post Office address in full to which acknowledgements are to be sent. WRITE PLAIN ; give the signature in plain hand, so that it can be read without mistake. If the writer is a man, mention whether or not he is a minister, and if a lady, state whether Miss or Mrs. Besides the invoice sent by mail to Philadelphia, let the donor put in the box, under the lid, in an envelope addressed to himself and stamped, a copy, on which the delegate, opening the box in camp, can indorse an acknowledgment and the regiment or hospital to which it is given, and mail to the donor. Send all Moneys to JOSEPH [E.] PATTERSON, Esq., Treasurer, Western Bank.I never miss a day or evening. I am enabled to give the men something always - [I] add something to their supper, some trifle all round. Then always some special cases [pas] needing something special above all the poor boys welcome magnetic friendship. How young they are, Lying there with pale faces & that mute look in the eyes. O how one gets to love them, often particular cases, so suffering so good, so [Americ] manly & affectionate. You would smile to see me among them. They are so many of them like children, ceremony is mostly discarded. Lots of them have grown to expect as I leave at night that we should kiss each other. Poor boys, there is little kissing or petting down in the army = [but I am not to be] but Abby I know what is in their hearts, always waiting, although they may not themselves. I have a place where I buy very nice home-made short-cake, sweet crackers so I [generally often] One of my ways (among many) to get several pounds of these, & for supper go [round] through a couple of wards & give a portion to each man-- then next evening two wards more & so on Each [case] marked case their needs something to itself. Often I give little gifts of money, which I am enabled to do. All sorts of things indeed, food, clothing, letter-stamps. (I write lots of letters) now & then, a nice pair of crutches &cThen I read to the boys the whole ward that can walk gather around & listen. I read last night Macaulay's Battle of [Nap?] Poes [Rome ve?] All this I tell you my dear because I [think] know it will interest you. I like Washington well enough. Did you see my last letter in N Y Times, Oct 4 Sunday? I have three or four hours work every day, copying & writing letters for the press &c. make enough to pay my expenses - live in an inexpensive manner any how. I like the mission I am on here & as it [has] is deeply holding me I shall continue Should you come across anyone who [might be] feels to help write me, & I may send word [what things] some purchases I [might be glad to] should [be glad] find acceptable to have for the men. But this only if it happens to come in perfectly convenient. Abby I have found some good friends here, a few, but true as steel. U D O'Connor & [fair] wife above all. He is a clerk in Treasury She is a Yankee girl. Then E U Eldridge in payments department a Boston boy too. Their friendship has been unswerving. [I will] In the hospitals among the [precious noble wounded noble dear children there] I could not describe to you what mutual attachment & how passing deep & tender - some have died, [some live] - but the love formed there [sure] lives as long [I] as I draw breath & those soldiers know how to love too, when once [aroused] they have the right person & the right love offered them. It is wonderful.The United States Christian Commission Was organized by the Young Men's Christian Associations, for the purpose of promoting the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Army and Navy of our Country. It sends its delegates as volunteers to battle-fields, to aid in the care of the wounded on the ground, and in removing them to hospitals; also, to hospitals, to aid chaplains where needed, and to act as chaplains in such hospitals and places as have not been supplied by the Government, and to camps of our soldiers in the service. The stores sent to the Christian Commission, [if specially designed for any particular person, or regiment, or hospital, are faithfully sent, without charge, to those for whom they are intended. If sent for distribution where most needed, they] are distributed by our own agents or delegates in person. The demand upon us is daily increasing, and stores of all sorts are urgently needed, especially such as are designated herein. But of all donations, MONEY IS THE BEST. We can purchase with it the right things at the right times, and can purchase at greatly reduced prices. The vast numbers now in the service, and entering it, and the thousands of sick and wounded in the hospitals call loudly upon the people for help, whilst the eagerness of their friends to send help is as great as theirs to receive it. Already more than [seven hundred] 4000 boxes and barrels of books and stores have been sent to our men, and over [one] 3 hundred gentlemen of the highest respectability have gone as volunteers to distribute them, and to give sympathy, instructions, and prayers therewith. The Commission will endeavor to distribute everything committed to them by everybody, in any and every part of the field, in accordance with the purpose of its organization, accompanying each distribution with the consolations of the Gospel. The following instructions will aid friends of our soldiers and sailors in deciding what to send, and how to pack, and how to direct that they send: I. AS TO WHAT TO SEND.—MONEY IS BEST OF ALL. It is injudicious to spend money or labor for trifling articles. Clothing is greatly needed, such as cotton shirts, woollen shirts, woollen socks, Canton flannel drawers, woollen drawers, surgical shirts of the same pattern, but tied with tapes down the sides and sleeves, instead of being sewed; cotton drawers large enough to serve as pants in-doors, dressing gowns, slippers, sheets and pillow cases, bandages of muslin, four to six yards long, and three or four inches wide, rolled up, each by itself, but not fastened; lint, picked, not scraped, wash-rags, handkerchiefs, and small hair and feathered pads for fractured limbs. OF STORES—oatmeal, farina, corn-starch, dried rusks, soda biscuits, jellies, fresh fruits, dried fruits, lemons, white sugar, brandy, wine, bottled ale and porter, beef tea in cakes, canned meats for soup, good black tea, cranberries, pickles in kegs, good fresh butter in small stone jars, barrels of onions and apples, and tin cups: all these are always wanted. TO AID THE SOLDIERS IN CORRESPONDENCE,—paper, envelopes, and pencils. OR READING MATTER for convalescents, a library is a valuable hygienic appliance, and for the able-bodied, good publications are mental and spiritual food. For convalescents, lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the pictorials, the works of science and literature, as well those for moral and spiritual culture,—such as you would put into the hands of a brother after severe illness, are such as are wanted; and for the well, also, good interesting books, tracts, and papers. Those designed specially for the soldier and sailor are the best, but send no trash. Our noble men love and deserve those that are fresh and the best. To suspend in the hospital, The Silent Comforter, Green Pastures, and Choice Hymns are excellent. II. AS TO PACKING.—Never pack perishable articles like eggs, sausages, bread or cakes, nor jars of jellies and jams, with other goods. Never send perishable articles unless specially called for, to supply some place to which they can be immediately sent. Pack eatables by themselves in separate boxes. Tin cans should be always soldered; all other modes are worthless for the army. Stone jars of jellies should be corked and firmly bound with oiled linen or leather over the cork, and packed in sawdust or hay, in boxes very tight, never exceeding a dozen and a half bottles in a box, and nailed strongly, to bear tipping. Boxes should not be so large that two cannot conveniently lift them into a wagon. III. AS TO DIRECTIONS.—Mark: "GEORGE H. STUART, President Christian Commission, 13 BANK STREET, PHILADELPHIA." Mark, also: From _______________[giving place and donor's or Society's name.] No. 1, 2, 3, &c. [numbering on from the first sent to the last.] Mark legibly with ink or paint on the boards (cards rub off). Send, by mail, an invoice, on paper about this size, and written only on one side, specifying the articles, and the marks and numbers of each package, and giving the Post Office address in full to which acknowledgements are to be sent. WRITE PLAIN ; give the signature in plain hand, so that it can be read without mistake. If the writer is a man, mention whether or not he is a minister, and if a lady, state whether Miss or Mrs. Besides the invoice sent by mail to Philadelphia, let the donor put in the box, under the lid, in an envelope addressed to himself and stamped, a copy, on which the delegate, opening the box in camp, can indorse an acknowledgment and the regiment or hospital to which it is given, and mail to the donor. Send all Moneys to JOSEPH [E.] PATTERSON, Esq., Treasurer, Western Bank.CROSS- REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Price, Abby H. from Whitman, n.d. See Verso Notes and Notebooks Notes-Literary Future writing about the war, n.d. Box 39