Henry Whitney Bellows (1814–1882), a Massachusetts clergyman, planned the USSC and served as its only president. According to
The Wall Street Journal, "its first executive secretary was
Frederick Law Olmsted, (1822–1903), the famed landscape architect who designed New York's
Central Park".
George Templeton Strong (1820–1875), New York lawyer and diarist, helped found the commission and served as treasurer and member of the executive committee. In June 1861, the Sanitary Commission set up its central office inside the
United States Treasury Building, just east of the
Executive Mansion (now the White House), on Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street in central
Washington, D.C. By late October 1861, the USSC Central Office and the
U.S. War Department had received detailed studies and reports from the Sanitary Inspectors of more than four hundred regimental camp inspections. The rapidly crowded events of those first six months of the war displayed the sheer gravity of the situation in which the adjustment to the means and agencies were desperately needed to ensure a high health-rate in all those untrained
Union Army regiments. Immediately following the
First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, the first orders and receipts submitted to the Central Office began to arrive from the military
Union Army hospitals at
Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., requesting
water-beds, small tables for writing in bed, iron wire cradles for protecting wounded limbs, dominoes, checkerboards,
Delphinium and hospital gowns for the wounded. The demands of the war soon required more frequent decision-making. This led to the creation of the Standing Committee, which met on a nearly daily basis in
New York City where most of its members resided. The Standing Committee initially consisted of five commissioners who retained their position for the entire war: Henry W. Bellows, George Templeton Strong, William H. Van Buren, M.D., Cornelius R. Agnew, M.D., and Wolcott Gibbs, M.D. In addition to setting up and staffing hospitals, the USSC operated 30 soldiers' homes, lodges, or rest houses for traveling or disabled Union soldiers. Most of these closed shortly after the war. Also active in the association was Colonel
Leavitt Hunt (1831–1907), a New York lawyer and pioneering photographer. In January 1864, he wrote to 16th President
Abraham Lincoln's secretary
John George Nicolay asking that Nicolay forward him any documents he might have available with the President's signature. Hunt's mother, the widow of Vermont congressman
Jonathan Hunt, planned to attach Lincoln's signature to copies of several casts of the President's hand, to be sold to raise funds for the war effort. Other fund raising events included the famous 50 pound sack of flour that was auctioned off by
Reuel Colt Gridley. By auctioning off the same sack of flour, which was then re-donated to be sold again, Gridley eventually raised more than $250,000.00 for the Sanitary Commission. States could use their own tax money to supplement the Commission's work, as Ohio did. Under the energetic leadership of Governor
David Tod, a
War Democrat who won office on a coalition "Union Party" ticket with Republicans, Ohio acted vigorously. Following the unexpected carnage at the
Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, it sent three steamboats to the scene as floating hospitals with doctors, nurses and medical supplies. The state fleet expanded to eleven hospital ships. The state also set up 12 local offices in main transportation nodes to help Ohio soldiers moving back and forth. The government constructed the
Pension Building in Washington, D.C. to handle all the staff to process the pension requests and administer them. Its successor, built as a permanent building in the 1880s, is now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. After the war, the USSC volunteers continued to work with
Union Army veterans to secure their bounties, back pay, and apply for pensions. It supported the "health and hygiene" of the veterans. They had a Department of General Relief which accepted donations for veterans, too.
Women in the USSC , ''Harper's Weekly'' April 9, 1864) Arising from a meeting in New York City of the Women's Central Relief Association of New York, the organization was also inspired by the British Sanitary Commission of the
Crimean War. The American volunteers raised money (estimated at $25 million), collected donations, made uniforms, worked as
nurses, ran
kitchens in army camps, and administered
hospital ships,
soldiers' homes, lodges, and rests for traveling or disabled soldiers. They organized Sanitary Fairs in numerous cities to support the Federal army with funds and supplies, and to raise funds for the work of the USSC. Women who were prominent in the organization, often traveling great distances, and working in harsh conditions, included
Louisa May Alcott,
Almira Fales,
Eliza Emily Chappell Porter,
Katherine Prescott Wormeley, and many others.
Dorothea Dix, serving as the commission's superintendent, convinced the medical corps of the value of women working in their hospitals. Over 15,000 women volunteered to work in hospitals, usually in nursing care. They assisted surgeons during procedures, gave medicines, supervised the feedings and cleaned the bedding and clothes. They gave good cheer, wrote letters the men dictated, and comforted the dying. A representative nurse was
Helen L. Gilson (1835–68) of
Chelsea, Massachusetts, who served in Sanitary Commission. She supervised supplies, dressed wounds, and cooked special foods for patients on a limited diet. She worked in hospitals after the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. She was a successful administrator, especially at the hospital for black soldiers at City Point, Virginia. The middle-class women who volunteered provided vitally needed nursing services and were rewarded with a sense of patriotism and civic duty in addition to the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and gain new ones, while receiving wages and sharing the hardships of the men.
Mary Livermore,
Mary Ann Bickerdyke, and Annie Wittenmeyer played leadership roles. After the war some nurses wrote memoirs of their experiences; examples include Dix, Livermore,
Sarah Palmer Young, and
Sarah Emma Edmonds.
Bridget Diver also worked for the Commission. ==Sanitary Fairs==