Appeal from the Western Sanitary Commission to President Abraham Lincoln regarding the condition of freed...

The Western Sanitary Commission informs President Lincoln that many freed slaves in the Mississippi Valley have no provisions, clothing, or bedding, and little cooking supplies or knowledge as to using such. States that "To meet the present emergency and to prevent or lessen the sufferings of the coming winter and spring, we offer our humble but active services, asking no reward of any kind, but the opportunity and encouragement to work." Reports that the Commission's efforts would be a work of philanthropy and patriotism, "for it would remove an increasing reproach against the Union cause, and by lessening the difficulties of emancipation, would materially aid in crushing the rebellion." The Western Sanitary Commission served armies west of the Mississippi from the beginning of the Civil War and was organized separately from the United States Sanitary Commission, though these two agencies often combined efforts. James E. Yeatman (1818-1901), William Greenleaf Eliot (1811-1887), Carlos Greeley (d.1898), John B. Johnson (fl.1863) and George Partridge (fl.1863). To Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).