This dissertation explores the efforts of northern soldiers’ relief organizations in bringing Union veterans home and aiding them during and after the Civil War. Part One focuses on the wartime work of the United States Sanitary Commission’s Special Relief Department in Washington, which dealt with a humanitarian crisis caused by neglect on the part of the U.S. Army as the city became choked with wounded, ill, or destitute discharged soldiers unable to get home. Employing antebellum missionary tactics, its workers relieved suffering where found but also forged vital and innovative bureaucratic mechanisms to move men homeward. By 1864, the Special Relief Department stood poised to spearhead a national system of soldiers’ homes. The Sanitary Commission leadership backed away from this challenge not out of a simple faith in American self-sufficiency, as they professed, or indifference, as many scholars suggest, but because they were daunted by mounting evidence of widespread poverty among soldiers and a societal problem beyond their reach.
The withdrawal of the Sanitary Commission did not leave a vacuum as sometimes claimed. Part Two examines relief efforts in the Boston area. Previous scholarship has asserted that northern civilians turned their backs on suffering endured by discharged soldiers. On the contrary, a decentralized yet complex and multilayered network of private charities and state and local government programs saved lives and mitigated suffering. Some groups of veterans were indeed marginalized, due not to civilian antipathy towards veterans but to long-standing prejudices on the part of veterans and civilians alike against foreigners and the poor that were exacerbated by the Panic of 1873. As the Grand Army of the Republic joined the decentralized aid system, they cultivated the image of the noble discharged soldier to garner respect. Consequently, they played a major role in cementing the concept of the “unworthy” veteran in the public mind, stripping destitute veterans of the aura of the “discharged soldier.” Diverse methodologies sparked debate between aid workers who based their efforts on emerging social science and those religion-based antebellum models. This project explores this complex discourse and the varied strategies employed to assist the discharged soldier.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46360 |
| Date | 15 June 2023 |
| Creators | Browne, Patrick T.J. |
| Contributors | Silber, Nina |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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