"The Soldier's Friend"

For the ladies of the USSC the highlight of the 2003 August Invitational at Ft. Tejon was the presentation of The Soldier’s Friend to our Union Troops. The culmination of about two years of research and work. So great was the demand for the book that we added a second presentation on Sunday for additional troops that could not attend our ceremony on Saturday. When the men raised 3 cheers for the US Sanitary Commission we felt truly honored!

 

    

The Soldier's Friend was a booklet published by the US Sanitary Commission in 1865, to aid Union Soldiers with obtaining much needed general information. It was handed out to the troops and it proved to be a valuable resource for the men, providing them with a variety of information, including:

  • The purpose of the USSC
  • Where USSC branches & depots were located
  • Who should be contacted to obtain back pay and pensions
  • Where they might obtain artificial limbs
  • Where Soldiers Homes were located
  • Information on hospitals and burying the dead
  • What the work of the USSC encompassed
  • Who runs the organization, and who contributed to it
  • 1865 calendar
  • Pay scale for non-commissioned officers and privates
  • What their families were doing at home to help them

In addition to all of this information it also included: patriotic songs, hymns, devotionals, and inspirational passages from the Bible, all of which we are sure were a great support to the men during the last few months of the war.

We have taken great care in accurately replicating the original as closely as possible. We believe that we are the first USSC unit to have ever republished this booklet, so we're very proud of this addition to our living history presentation. The Union Soldiers at Ft. Tejon were the first troops to receive copies of The Soldier's Friend since 1865. We hope that it will add to their impression and give them further insight into what the US Sanitary Commission accomplished during the Civil War.

 

 


Drawing by Mr J. A. Davis, Harpers Weekly
Soldier's Friend Presentation, August 2003

 

ussanitarycommission@yahoo.com
1/21/2007