 Official seal of the Commission | |
| Formation | June 18, 1861 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Henry Whitney Bellows |
| Dissolved | May 1866 |
| Type | Private relief agency |
| Headquarters | United States Treasury Building |
| Location |
|
| Services | Support for sick and wounded soldiers of the Union Army |
President | Henry Whitney Bellows |
Executive Secretary | Frederick Law Olmsted |
Treasurer | George Templeton Strong |
Budget | $25,000,000 (total) |
The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the American Civil War.[a] It operated across the North, raised an estimated $25 million in Civil War era revenue (assuming 1865 dollars, $497.61 million in 2024) and in-kind contributions[1] to support the cause, and enlisted thousands of volunteers. The president was Henry Whitney Bellows, and Frederick Law Olmsted acted as executive secretary. It was modeled on the British Sanitary Commission, set up during the Crimean War (1853–1856), and from the British parliamentary report published after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ("Sepoy Rebellion").[2][3][b]
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- ^ Stillé, Charles J. (1866). History of the United States Sanitary Commission, Being the General Report of Its Work during the War of the Rebellion. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. p. 490. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army. A Succinct Narrative of Its Works and Purposes. New York: Sanitary Commission. 1864. p. 5. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
United States Sanitary Commission.
- ^ The New York Times. "Necessity of Sanitary Organization" (Vol. X, No. 3031: Sunday, June 9, 1861). p. 5, column 1. Retrieved: August 4, 2015.