conveniences, and were under the management of suitable ladies employed
by the surgeons in charge. A storeroom conveniently near or adjoining
was provided, where the commuted rations of soldiers put on special
diet were stored, also the supplies furnished by the Sanitary and
Christian Commissions; and the woman in charge of the special-diet
kitchen carried the keys.
4. These dietary nurses were _not cooks_; they only superintended the
work. Many of those who worked in these kitchens were soldiers who were
somewhat disabled, or convalescent soldiers who were not able to join
their regiments.
In large hospitals, where one thousand or fifteen hundred were
furnished meals three times a day, the work was divided up, and each
man had his part of the work, and soon became an expert in it. There
were in the large kitchens from twenty-five to thirty men required to
do the work.
The food thus systematically prepared under the watchful eyes of women
competent to govern such a force and direct the work, was brought to
the bedside of the patients in home-like preparation.
No mistake would likely be made in the distribution, as each patient
had at the head of his bed the list of articles of food prescribed by
the surgeon of his ward.
The first kitchen was opened at Cumberland Hospital, Nashville, Tenn.
The Christian Commission of Pittsburg, Pa., sent me the lumber to build
a kitchen, storeroom, and a ladies’ room, and two of the largest ranges
in the market.
Mary E. Moorhead, a wealthy lady of that city, daughter of Hon. J. K.
Moorhead, at that time a member of Congress, and one of Pittsburg’s
most honored citizens, and Hannah Shaw, who has since distinguished
herself in missionary work in China, took charge of that kitchen. Miss
Moorhead has since the close of the war devoted herself to benevolent
work.
The change wrought in that hospital was so marvellous that all the
leading surgeons from Louisville to Chattanooga were anxious for
the establishment of special-diet kitchens in connection with their
hospitals. Many of them could not believe the wonderful stories
circulated as to the great reform wrought in Cumberland Hospital, and,
like the Queen of Sheba, came long distances to see for themselves as
to the truth of the matter, and, like her, confessed that “the half had
not been told them.”
I was most generously sustained in this work by the Christian
Commission, who turned all their supplies into these kitchens, and paid
all the expenses of this service. I was chosen superintendent of the
special-diet kitchen work, which rapidly extended all along the lines
from Vicksburg to Petersburg.
The surgeons accepting this help, agreed to employ the women selected
by me, and allow them to have charge of the supplies furnished for use
in the special-diet kitchens, from the government and the Sanitary
and Christian Commissions. The surgeons had charge of the kitchen,
appointed these women, and directed their work, as in all parts of
their hospitals.
There was no opposition to this work. Mr. Lincoln, Secretary Stanton,
Surgeon-General Barnes, and Assistant-Surgeon-General Wood, gave me
their indorsement and all the aid I needed. It soon became an admitted
fact that thousands of lives were being saved by this supply of better
food, which many of them needed more than they did medicine.
Surgeon-General Barnes became so enthusiastic over the plan that he
appointed a commission of United States army surgeons to consider it,
with a view of adopting it and ingrafting it upon the United States
general hospital system.
I was invited by the surgeon-general to meet with them. The committee
received me most graciously at their regular sittings in Washington,
D. C., and listened with great respect to my explanations; and after
carefully considering my plans, adopted them as a part of the regular
United States hospital system.
To give some idea of the magnitude of the work, out of over one hundred
special-diet kitchens established by me, I give the amount of food in
rations issued from sixteen special-diet kitchens, a record of which I
happen to have now on hand for February, 1865.
RATIONS.
Tea 100,350
Coffee 54,818
Cocoa 4,770
Milk, Cold 12,194
Milk, boiled 9,860
Milk, Thickened 7,517
Bread and Milk, Boiled 2,689
Beef Tea 7,548
Beef Essence 1,699
Bread and Butter 133,938
Toast, Buttered 28,539
Toast, Dry 23,809
Toast, Milk 33,611
Crackers 18,999
Corn Bread 15,714
Biscuit 5,458
Warm Cakes 2,629
Rice 9,239
Barley 492
Farina 8,424
Gruel 1,589
Corn Starch 17,150
Mush 10,831
Soup, Chicken 8,472
Soup, Mutton 856
Soup, Beef 10,716
Soup, Barley 599
Soup, Oyster 10,193
Soup, Potato 2,301
Soup, Vegetable 4,885
Beef Steak 27,623
Roast Beef 36,599
Ham 3,585
Chicken 11,389
Turkey (only occasionally) 809
Mutton 2,357
Veal 1,510
Pork 2,208
Hash 7,925
Oysters 5,086
Fish 5,721
Eggs 15,538
Potatoes 47,725
Turnips 7,785
Carrots 1,070
Onions 12,356
Beets 271
Cabbage 15,059
Krout 1,296
Beans 494
Parsnips 1,291
Tomatoes 7,312
Puddings 34,249
Pies 5,113
Cakes 3,485
Tapioca 2,772
Sago 60
Blanc-Mange 807
Custard 1,616
Jellies 1,763
Canned Fruit 12,816
Stewed Fruit 29,266
Apple Sauce 7,618
Apples, Baked 11,774
Pickles 20,343
Lemons 127
Cheese 825
Cordials, etc 1,940
--------
Total, 899,472
This was the regular bill of fare in all the special-diet kitchens.
If any one of these articles could not be obtained, they were marked
off. Turkey was only on the list occasionally. It will be seen by
the great variety that the appetites of the patients were consulted.
Nothing, however, was issued without it being ordered by the surgeon in
attendance upon the patient.
Some of the articles furnished on the above list may seem unfit for
sick men; but when we take into consideration that there were many
wounded men who were allowed by the surgeons to eat anything they
might choose, and others who were homesick, or hopelessly ill, or
dying, who in the loneliness of suffering remembered and craved
something because a kind mother’s hand had once prepared such dainties
for them, it is no longer a matter of wonder.
And since the loved ones at home could not cheer them with their
presence and love in their dark hours of suffering, it was a delightful
task for these noble women to substitute home food and words of cheer.
It is the verdict of history that this system of special-diet kitchens
saved thousands of lives. During the last eighteen months of the war,
over two million rations were issued monthly from this long line of
special-diet kitchens, established, many of them, almost under the
guns.
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC--ITS GLORIES AND ITS DANGERS.
The remarkable growth of the American Republic is without a parallel in
the history of the world.
A hundred years ago she was a feeble nation--in her infancy, and
scarcely recognized by the other nations of the earth. Now she stands
foremost among the governments of the world, and _leads_ the nations in
almost everything.
Her territory is extensive and contiguous, lying between two great
oceans, and bounded on the north and south by navigable lakes and seas.
Her resources are almost boundless. She gluts the markets of the
world with her silver and gold. Her iron and copper ores are rich and
abundant, nearly all the metals needed for the use of her people may be
had for the digging, and she may bedeck her children with the jewels
gathered from her own fields.
She can produce an abundance of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, and silk.
She is already the chief competitor in the cotton markets of Asia,
and from her own looms is clothing her people in muslins and fine
linen, and her daughters in royal purple from her silk factories. Her
food supply is immense. Her grain-fields are broad and rich enough to
supply bread to the millions of her own people, and to meet the needs
of the needy nations of the earth. Her meat supply is so large that
she is glad to share it with all the world. Her fruit yield is ample,
sufficient in variety and abundance to meet the needs of all. Only
a few luxuries are denied her. She could shut herself in, and live
luxuriously on her own products. There is not one thing that comes from
abroad that her people could not live comfortably without. Tea, coffee,
spices, and tropical fruits are not necessary to human life.
Her woods are abundant and fine, equal to any reasonable demand. Her
furniture goes to the ends of the earth.
Her building material is abundant and of superior quality. She
has granite and marble in variety, nearly all kinds of valuable
building-stones, and clays of almost every description. Her potteries
are now doing credible work, and her china and glass wares are
attracting attention in other lands. The new process by which _glass
china_ is produced is a marvellous success.
Her people are intelligent and enterprising. The rich resources of the
country have stimulated their activities and awakened their inventive
genius till they are the leaders in the work of the world, and the
most thrifty and enterprising nation on the face of the globe.
They have tunnelled the mountains; bridged the rivers; created
water-ways; made the wilderness to bloom; and chained steam and
electricity as motive powers to their chariot-wheels, to do their
bidding on the land and under the sea.
A system of government has been established superior to any other known
before among men; and a system of free schools that has no parallel on
the face of the earth has made the people intelligent and efficient for
the practical work of life, far beyond other nations, taken as a mass.
And yet with all these blessings, dangers threaten her.
One of the dangers that threaten this glorious Republic is the foreign
emigration. Attracted by her rich resources and the marvellous stories
of her wealth, the people of other nations are coming to share our
blessings. The danger is not in the number who come, but in the
character of many of these new-comers.
They come to a new nation with old habits, and old prejudices, and
another language. They are a misfit. They care nothing for the American
Republic and her free institutions, only as they will add to their
physical comfort and personal aggrandizement. They do not assimilate
or become Americanized. Many of them are ignorant and brutish. They
huddle together; they are as much foreigners as they were in Hungary or
Sicily. They remain foreigners, and they have nothing in common with us
except their physical needs.
Among them are the vicious and the idle. Our thoroughfares are filled
with tramps and beggars. The prisons of our cities are crowded with
foreign criminals and paupers. Almost two-thirds of all the criminals
and paupers in our large cities are foreign born. Criminals flying from
justice; paupers who, from infirmities of body and mind, or from idle
and dissolute habits, must be supported,--find a refuge here.
Statesmen may well question as to how long this Republic can take into
her bosom, and accord all the rights of citizenship to, the criminals
and paupers of the world, without danger.
But there is danger from our own people. The accumulation of great
wealth, without a corresponding increase of brains and culture,
is giving us an undesirable aristocracy. They ape the old, effete
aristocracies of the Old World.
They discount American institutions, and “_adore a title_.” They try
to rule business, politics, and social life. But this evil will be
overcome.
In this country, where there are no entailed estates, death equalizes
wealth and power every few years.
MEMORIAL DAY.
Bow low, fair clouds, and kiss the earth,
Where Human Freedom had her birth,
Where heroes struggled in the fight,
And patriots died for human right.
Bow low, and rainbow glories shed
Above a nation’s gallant dead;
Then bear the news o’er land and sea,
Earth’s fettered millions may be free.
Fly low, bright birds with painted wings,
And join the song a nation sings,
A glad, and sacred jubilee,
For God has set his people free.
Sing of the flag with starry field,
Sing of the eagle and the shield,
Sing of the victories of Peace,
Sing of the time when wars shall cease.
Bloom on, sweet flowers, thy perfume shed
Above each soldier’s lowly bed;
Kind nature’s fairest tribute bring,
And clothe each mound with flowers of spring.
Look up, with loving, dewy eyes,
Into the blue recording skies,
And pledge in red, and white, and blue,
That May flowers ever will be true.
Let all the people gather near,
And bow themselves with reverent fear;
For God with mighty, outstretched hand
Has graciously redeemed our land.
Come, Peace, and spread thy sheltering wing;
Come, Love, thy sweetest tribute bring;
Come, all, and join a sacred lay
To celebrate Memorial Day.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.