AN ACT For the relief of the families of volunteers
in the State or United States service. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of
Tax levied, Ohio, That for the relief of the necessities of the families of volun- three-fifths of a teers who now are, or hereafter may be, in the service of this state mill
on the or the United States, there be and hereby is levied and assessed, for dollar
valua- the year 1862, three-fifths
of one mill on the dollar valuation on the tion. grand list of the taxable property of the State; and the amount so Collected
as levied land assessed shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes. state taxes are collected. LAWS OF OHIO,
1862 Title and first section of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, February 13, 1862 |
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES IN OHIO DURING THE CIVIL WAR by JOSEPH E.
HOLLIDAY One of the aspects of the Civil War on the home front
which has received scant attention by historians is that of aid for the
families of men in the armed services. The work of the United States
Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Commission has been
recognized, but the ex- tensive work of these commissions was chiefly for
the welfare of the soldiers themselves. The impact of the war on those who were
left behind when the breadwinner was called to serve at the front has
received little attention. Yet to the communities both North and South in which
these families lived, common justice, humanity, and the level of morale
demanded that the soldiers' dependents be reasonably secured against
real privation. A number of methods for the relief of soldiers'
families were used in the state of Ohio. During the Civil War it was the
third most populous state in the Union, with a population in 1860 of
2,339,511. The complete story of this relief can never be told, inasmuch as a great
deal of it was given through local and private sources and data are
either lacking or are too difficult to trace. However, some information
regarding this phase of it is available for the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton
County. At that time Cincinnati was the largest city in the
state--indeed, it was the largest city west of the Alleghenies, with a population in 1860
of 161,044. The various methods of aiding the families of soldiers in that
city can serve as some indication of those used in other cities in the
state and in the West. Communities in Ohio were little prepared in 1861 to
take care of the unforeseen needs of soldiers' families, except by
the existing system of NOTES ARE ON PAGES 194-196 |
98 OHIO HISTORY
outdoor relief (that is, of needy
persons living in their own homes). It was
at first expected that bounty money and
part of the soldiers' pay would
supply most of their needs. But this did
not prove to be true even during
the first year of the war, and local
governmental units and private charity
supplemented the private resources of
many of these families. Few could
foresee the magnitude of the problem and
the continuation of the war for
four long years.
By the end of 1861 it became apparent
that the local governmental units
and private benevolence could not
sufficiently provide for them. State taxa-
tion for this purpose was first used in
Ohio in 1862, and the pressure for
voluntary gifts was accelerated. The
condition became especially serious
during the winter of 1864-65. By the end
of the war considerable sums
from a variety of sources were being
expended for the relief of the families
of the men fighting to preserve the
Union. By that time additional depend-
ents had made their appearance--war
widows, orphans, and disabled
veterans--for whom somewhat different
methods of relief came to be devised.
Among the first actions of the Ohio General
Assembly after the outbreak
of hostilities in April 1861 was the
protection of the property of citizen-
soldiers while they were away from home.
An act of May 1, 1861, ex-
empted from execution the property of
any soldier in the militia of Ohio
mustered into the service of the United
States during the time he was in
that service and for two months
thereafter.1 It was later (March 10, 1862)
extended to all volunteers from the
state in the service of the United States.2
In February 1862 the general assembly
sought to protect citizen-soldiers
charged with criminal offenses by
providing that judges should postpone
their trials until they were discharged.3
Still later, in March 1864, certain
relief was given to debtors in the armed
services who might have judgment
rendered against them without defense;
they were given the right to reopen
the case within one year after their
discharge from the army.4 By such
legislation the property of the citizen-soldier
and his family was given a
measure of protection while he was
serving his country.
After the first flush of patriotic
enthusiasm had passed, one of the strong
inducements to enlistment was a
financial one--a bounty, and, at a later
date, the advance of the first month's
pay. A complete discussion of the
complicated bounty system is beyond the
scope of this article, but some
consideration of it is necessary, since
bounty money was generally used for
family aid. The system was, of course,
not new at the time of the Civil
War; its origins go back to the colonial
wars. In his first address to the
soldiers of Ohio on May 17, 1861,
Governor William Dennison reminded
them that
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 99
the [federal] government, with
solicitous care, makes provision for the families
of those who may fall or be disabled in
the National cause.
It offers a bounty of one hundred
dollars to all who may enlist, payable at
the close of the service, or to the
soldier's family, if he should not survive.
The system of bounty lands is also a
permanent one.5
Provost Marshal General James B. Fry
stated after the war that to stimulate
recruiting it had been necessary to
offer "inducements intended to compare
favorably with the price of ordinary
labor and at the same time provide
means for the support of the family or
others dependent on the labor of
the recruit."6 Thus it
was generally assumed that all or part of the bounty
money would be given to his family by
the volunteer. After a study of the
subject many years ago Professor Emerson
D. Fite wrote that "undoubtedly
one-half" of the bounty "was
turned over by soldiers to their needy relatives
and may be looked upon as a form of
relief."7
During the Civil War, bounties came from
three sources--the federal
government, local governmental units,
and private subscription. (In Ohio
there was no bounty offered directly
from state funds.) The federal govern-
ment, at the beginning of hostilities,
offered a bounty of $100, payable upon
honorable discharge. Its post-service
payment, however, was of little help
in the family emergency immediately
following the enlistment of the bread-
winner. Consequently, by action of
congress in July 1862, one-fourth of
this sum was to be paid upon muster and
the balance at the expiration of
the term of service. By later acts of
congress the bounty was increased to as
much as $400 in some cases, payable in
installments at certain periods during
the soldier's service as well as upon
his being mustered in and mustered out.
By 1863 the volunteer could expect $75
from the federal government at
the time he was mustered in, $13 of the
amount being his first month's pay.8
To the federal bounty there came to be
added bounties provided by local
governmental units and private
subscription. Indeed, as the provost marshal
general wrote, the federal bounty paled
into "comparative insignificance"
when compared with "the exorbitant
bounties paid in advance by local au-
thorities." These, he believed,
were the most mischievous in encouraging
desertion, bounty-jumping, and other
evils connected with the system. So
great was the stigma of the draft that
local authorities were highly competi-
tive in the amounts offered to
volunteers. Furthermore, they paid all the
sum in advance. The primary objective of
these payments, as General Fry
put it, came to be "to obtain men
to fill quotas."9
Localities began by offering moderate
bounties. In 1862 the average
local bounty in Ohio was estimated at
$25; in 1863 it advanced to $100;
in 1864 it bounded to $400; and in 1865
the average bounty was $500,
100 OHIO HISTORY
although in some localities it was as
high as $800.10 The Hamilton County
Board of Commissioners levied a tax of
two mills in 1863 to take care of
local bounty payments. On a tax
duplicate of $128,432,065 this levy
yielded about $256,864.11 This appears
to be the only year of the war in
which a county levy for bounties was
made in Hamilton County. The next
year (1864), however, the city of
Cincinnati began to borrow in order to
offer city bounty payments, and during
that year 1,811 volunteers were
paid bounties of $100 each.12
After the war the adjutant general of
Ohio estimated that $54,457,575
had been paid in local bounties
throughout the state, of which amount cities
and counties had paid about $14,000,000
and private subscribers, $40,-
457,575.13 The private subscriptions
usually represented ward or township
bounties, offered to encourage
volunteering to avoid the draft in a city ward
or township. Ward military committees
were very active in securing private
contributions for this purpose, as well
as in securing volunteers. Bounties,
then, must be considered an important
source of income for the soldiers
and their families throughout the war.
Another way in which the individual
soldier was able to help his family
while in the armed services was to
assign all or part of his pay to his
relatives back home. This method was
known as the "allotment system."
Although the navy had developed an
allotment system before the war, the
army had not done so. At the beginning
of the war the soldiers used a
number of informal methods to send money
home. Congress then made it
possible for the states to establish
systems of collection for this purpose.
Early in the war great expectation was
placed in this source to provide an
income for soldiers' families. The pay
of a private soldier was fixed at $13
per month soon after the beginning of
the war; in May 1864 it was raised to
$16 per month. As Bell I. Wiley has
pointed out, "in comparison with that
[the pay] of World War II it was
lamentably low."14 But in addition to
their pay, most of the volunteers received
installments of their federal
bounties at stated intervals while they
were in the field, and the amounts
they often received there were larger
than might be inferred. Allotments
were arranged directly by the men in the
field; they were not automatically
deducted from their pay in a central
office far behind the lines. When General
William T. Sherman's army arrived in
Atlanta in September 1864, the men
had not been paid for a number of weeks.
In writing to the secretary of
war, Sherman said he believed that only
one-tenth or one-eighth of their
pay would be necessary in cash--the
balance would be returned North to
their families.15 This
indicates a rather large allotment by the average
soldier to his family back home.
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 101 |
|
In the absence of an official method at the beginning of the war of re- turning their pay home, the soldiers resorted to various schemes. In some cases they sent it by express or through the mail and there was considerable loss by these means.16 At one time the Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, com- manded by Brigadier General William H. Lytle, sent to Cincinnati by one of its sutlers, John Ferguson, about $13,000 to be distributed by him to relatives.17 On several occasions German soldiers sent sums to Benno Speyer, a highly trusted and prominent leader of the German element in Cincinnati. In April 1862 he received $14,000 from the Twenty-Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Second Regiment; two months later he received $25,000 from the same regiment. Notice was placed in the newspapers, and relatives were asked to call at his office to collect.18 In the autumn of 1861 the Hamil- ton County Board of Commissioners, besieged with requests for relief from the families of soldiers, sent Leonard Swartz to western Virginia, where several companies of Hamilton County volunteers were stationed, to per- suade them to send part of their pay home with him.19 A few days later the Cincinnati City Council authorized its representative, Theodore Marsh, to go to the same area for the same purpose. He returned with $13,250 from the Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.20 Such methods were the only ones available to the soldiers during the early |
102 OHIO HISTORY
months of the war, and they were
unsystematic and irregular. Clearly a
more satisfactory means was needed. In
July 1861 congress hastily author-
ized the secretary of war to introduce
among the volunteers "the system of
allotment tickets now used in the navy,
or some equivalent system," but the
secretary failed to act.21 In December
1861 Congress passed the basic
allotment act for army volunteers. Upon
nomination by state governors, the
president could appoint not more than
three commissioners from each state
to visit the several army departments to
procure allotments. Such commis-
sioners were expressly denied any
"pay or emolument" from the federal
treasury. It was clear that congress
expected that the states would take the
initiative and the responsibility for
allotments. This law also repealed an
act of 1858 which gave to sutlers a lien
on the pay of soldiers.22
In February 1862 the general assembly of
Ohio passed a law enabling
soldiers "to transmit their pay to
their families or friends." Allotments
were to be paid into the state treasury;
the state auditor would then notify
the various county auditors of the sums
and to whom payments were to be
made; and the county officials would
then disburse such money. These sums
were expressly exempt from any
attachment or other legal process for the
satisfaction of any debt or liability.23
Two months later (April 14, 1862)
this basic law was implemented when
state pay agents were authorized who
would visit the various army departments
to procure allotments.24 By
channeling this money through the state
treasury, its safety was assured.
The state auditor believed the method to
be "simple, direct and certain,"
but the first use of pay agents was only
partly successful, and by the end of
1862 there was only one pay agent in the
state's service.25 A supplementary
law was enacted in April 1863 under
which three state officials, known
as allotment commissioners, were to be
recommended to the president and
appointed by him. They supervised the
collection of allotments.26 Gover-
nor Tod recommended Ridgley J. Powers of
Youngstown, Henry N. Johnson
of Cleveland, and Loren R. Brownell of
Piqua. By the end of the war Ohio
had sixteen pay agents at various
points.27
The treasurer of state reported at the
end of the war that $8,470,494.76
had been received in the allotment fund
of the state treasury since it was
established in February 1862, "without
cost to the soldier, and without fee
or charge by the officers of the State
or county treasuries."28 But nearly half
of that amount was collected during
1865. There is no doubt that the Ohio
system protected the payments from any
embezzlement or dishonesty. The
chief criticisms were based on the
irregularity of payments and the delays
involved. For example, during the year
1863 the monthly receipts paid into
the Ohio state treasury in this fund
varied from $12,104 to $310,338.95.29
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 103
Moved by complaints, in February 1864
the Ohio General Assembly passed
a joint resolution requesting members of
congress from Ohio "to use their
influence for the adoption of a more
safe, easy, and expeditious mode of
transmitting money by soldiers in the
army to their families and friends";
but no change was authorized by congress
during the war.30 Considering
the need for the collection of these
allotments in the field, the number of
hands through which the money had to
pass, and the paper work involved
at each stage, the transactions were
necessarily slow.31
These sums provided by the individual
soldier from his bounty money
and pay did not prove to be adequate to
take care of the financial needs of
many families left at home; too many of
them were living on marginal
incomes. The temporary business
paralysis in Cincinnati that followed the
outbreak of hostilities contributed to
the initial distress in that city, since
it reduced the possibility of wives
finding work. In 1862 the establishment
of an army clothing depot in Cincinnati,
at which seamstresses were em-
ployed, helped to give employment to
many wives and mothers of soldiers.32
But some provision was necessary to care
for needy dependents through the
first stages of the war. During this
early period the Cincinnati city authori-
ties found that their Soup House was of
great help in dealing with the
emergency.
The Soup House, located in the Medical
Institute building, had been
organized in 1860 by three
public-spirited citizens, Miles Greenwood, Ed-
ward Dexter, Jr., and D. B. Sargent, as
a pilot experiment to find an
economical way of dealing with outdoor
relief. It proved its usefulness
and was taken over by the city in June
1861.33 From that date until March
1, 1862, 3,049 families were supplied
with rations at a cost of about one-half
cent per ration. Of course, the ration
was only one-third of a loaf of bread
and a bowl of soup.34 Other
departments of the city outdoor relief distribut-
ing fuel and medicine, also showed a
great increase, which the directors
attributed to the unemployment immediately
following hostilities and "the
large number of families whose providers
have joined the army, who never
before sought relief."35
The peace-time relief services, however,
could not long take care of the
great numbers in this new class of
persons affected by the crisis. Nor did
all citizens believe that volunteers'
families should be merged in this way
with the general set of indigent
persons. Throughout the year 1861 the Cin-
cinnati City Council appropriated, in
piecemeal lots, a total of $54,366.75
for the relief of soldiers' families.36
The early regulations regarding the
distribution of city funds indicate that
the sums paid to individual families
were almost trifling. They varied from
$1.00 to $3.00 per week to each of
104 OHIO HISTORY
1,100 to 1,200 families.37 By
October 1861 it was definitely stated that
not more than $2.00 could be given to an
applicant for one week.38 After
the first eight months of the war, the
city government, except in a few crises,
permitted the county and state
authorities and private individuals to carry
the burden of family relief for
soldiers.
In the crisis produced by the outbreak
of war the Hamilton County Board
of Commissioners could not vote a levy
for this specific purpose until the
general assembly granted them the right
to do so. They were soon given
such authority. Within a month after
Fort Sumter was fired upon, the
general assembly passed an act
permitting county commissioners to levy
in 1861 a tax not to exceed one-half
mill, and to borrow in anticipation of
the receipts from that tax,39 and the
general assembly extended that authority
throughout the remaining years of the
war. The Hamilton County Board of
Commissioners promptly levied the
maximum amount for 1861.40 This levy
of one-half mill probably brought in
about $59,000 in 1861. It was not
felt necessary to make a county levy in
1862, since the state then began
its special levy for that purpose, and
it was hoped that this would be
sufficient. It did not prove to be so;
consequently, during the remaining
three years of the war a county levy for
soldiers' family relief in Hamilton
County was required in addition to the
state levy. During the crucial year
of 1864 a county levy of one mill was
assessed; for the other years it was
one-half mill. A conservative estimate
of the amount raised by county
levies in Hamilton County for this
purpose would be about $345,000 for
the war years.41
It was a cardinal principle in
nineteenth century America that poor relief
was a matter of local responsibility.
This meant that it should be locally
financed and locally administered for
local residents. In a crisis of the
magnitude of the Civil War, however,
local resources were not sufficient;
the state had to assume a share of the
burden. Professor Charles M. Rams-
dell has shown that in the Confederacy,
as long as it was expected that the
war would be a short one, provision for
the families of soldiers devolved
on the county authorities. By the end of
1862 local relief was inadequate
in most Confederate states, and during
the winter of 1862-63, the character
of relief legislation changed from local
to state and from a money tax to a
tax in kind.42 The state of
Ohio assumed responsibility for raising funds
for this purpose early in 1862, but
these funds were always locally admin-
istered for local residents. The earlier
law of May 10, 1861, already re-
ferred to, was simply permissive,
authorizing counties to levy a tax for
this specific purpose. The first state
levy was assessed by the act of Feb-
ruary 13, 1862.
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 105
One of the members of the Ohio General
Assembly most active in
advocating state taxation for the relief
of soldiers' families was Benjamin
Eggleston, a member of the state senate
from Cincinnati. Eggleston was a
merchant and legislator who frequently
came to the help of the more un-
fortunate. In 1857 a shortage in the
supply of coal in Cincinnati produced
a severe crisis, during which the poorer
families of the city were unable
to pay the exorbitant price asked for
that scarce commodity. Eggleston,
as a member of the city council, took
the leadership in having the city buy
coal and sell it at a low price. He had
also been especially helpful to the
families of soldiers during the early
months of the war. As a member of
the upper house of the general assembly
in 1862 he helped to carry through
the first law for state relief for
them.43 By this act (February 13, 1862),
a state tax of three-fifths of one mill
was levied on the dollar valuation
of taxable property in Ohio to create a
fund "for the relief of the necessities
of the families of non-commissioned
officers, musicians and privates." It
was known as the Volunteers' Families
Relief Fund. The local assessors
were ordered to make an enumeration of
volunteers in their respective
localities and the number of dependents
in their families. Each county would
then be granted an amount in proportion
to the number of its men in the
service.44
Since the revenues from this tax would
not be received until the following
year, the county commissioners were
authorized to borrow in anticipation
of them. This the Hamilton County Board
of Commissioners proceeded to
do. They used the various war military
committees and township trustees
to investigate applicants for relief and
certify those who were in need. The
commissioners also set up a scale of
payments. A wife without dependents
would receive $2.00 every two weeks;
with one child she would receive
$2.50; with two children, $3.00; with
three or four children, $3.50; and
with five or more children, $4.00.45 For the first
payments under this new
law the Hamilton County Board of
Commissioners paid $6,212 to 2,281
necessitous soldiers' families in the
city.46
During the spring of 1862 a minor crisis
occurred in Cincinnati after
army payments fell into arrears. The
regular allotment plan was not yet in
operation and the Peninsular campaign in
the East and the Shiloh cam-
paign in the West had prevented regular
payments to the army. Also, war
casualties had increased. A crowd of
over one hundred wives, many with
children in their arms, came to the
courthouse to wait on the commissioners.
Police were summoned and the crowd
dispersed. Within the next few
months the situation worsened. Civic
leaders and philanthropists called a
public meeting "to devise means of
relief for those families of soldiers
106 OHIO HISTORY
who have not received their pay, and of
those who have lost husbands and
fathers in the service." Testimony
given at this meeting indicated that
private gifts were no longer an adequate
supplement to public relief. There
was little doubt that "large
destitution" prevailed among families of volun-
ters as well as among "'the
floating population.'"47 It was decided to under-
take a concerted effort to collect funds
from private sources, but the
threatened invasion of Ohio by the
Confederate General Kirby Smith and
the subsequent "siege of
Cincinnati" (July 1862) merged this minor
crisis into a major one for the
threatened city.
The first state levy in 1862 produced
about $510,000, with each county
receiving $6.30 for each volunteer
credited to it.48 But the number of
volunteers rapidly increased after the
law was passed, and Governor Tod,
in his message of January 5, 1863, urged
an increase of the levy to one
mill. The general assembly complied.49
The higher levy of 1863 produced
about $900,000, but the amount paid to
each county was only $5.33 for each
volunteer--almost one dollar less than
in 1862. Yet the cost of living was
rapidly rising. Both Governor Tod and
the newly inaugurated Governor
John Brough recommended an increase in
this tax for 1864. A major
portion of Governor Brough's inaugural
address dealt with this problem of
family relief. While recognizing the
great assistance given by benevolent
men and women to the suffering in their
communities, he believed that
private contributions did not properly
spread the burden. Nor did he be-
lieve that private charity was always
acceptable to recipients of this class.
"We should divest this fund of the
appellation of charity," he urged.50
The general assembly was willing to
increase the state levy for 1864 to
two mills, and it also required that
county commissioners levy an additional
amount, not to exceed one mill, if the
income from the state tax was in-
sufficient. It likewise made it possible
for cities and towns to levy still
another tax, not to exceed one-half
mill, if necessary. For those township
trustees who were recalcitrant in
granting relief to soldiers' families, this
law provided that the county
commissioners could transfer its administra-
tion to two persons appointed by them;
if the commissioners neglected to
grant relief the governor could appoint
one or more persons to administer
it.51 A new set of soldiers' families
was now included in those eligible for
relief--families of Negro soldiers, for
whom the state of Ohio had opened
volunteering in 1863. At the time Ohio
began to raise Negro regiments,
these volunteers were not eligible for a
federal bounty, and were paid only
$10 per month. Nor were their families
eligible for relief from state funds.
To meet their just claims for help,
Governor Tod had appointed a state
committee to receive private
subscriptions and distribute aid to the neces-
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 107
sitous families of these Negro troops.52
But beginning in 1864 they were
eligible for state aid.
The year 1864 was the most difficult of
the entire war for many families
of soldiers from Ohio. In his message to
the general assembly on January 3,
1865, Governor Brough stated that the
tax levied in 1864 had proved to be
inadequate. So great was the drain on
the regular state fund during that
year, particularly for the relief of
families of the so-called Hundred Days
Men, that he found it necessary to
appropriate $5,000 from the extraordi-
nary contingent fund for this purpose.
He strongly urged that the general
assembly increase the state levy to
three mills.53 The general assembly,
however, rejected his proposal and
placed the burden of additional funds
on the local governmental units.
Counties were enabled to increase their
additional levies up to two mills, and
municipalities could increase their
levies to an additional one mill.
Families of disabled veterans were still
entitled to relief under this act. Since
the number of war widows had
increased, the law explicitly stated
that the receipt of a pension should not
exclude a war widow from the benefit of
this relief. More important, how-
ever, was the change in the method of
distribution of the funds to the
counties. Heretofore it was distributed
on the basis of the number of
soldiers enlisting from each county;
under the new act of 1865 it was to be
distributed on the basis of the number
of necessitous soldiers' families in
each county.54
During the year 1865 the state of Ohio
collected $2,137,932.69 for the
families of soldiers--the largest sum
for any one year. Since hostilities
ended in April 1865, this large amount
was not needed, and the general
assembly later transferred $800,000 to
the state sinking fund and appropri-
ated $100,000 for the state soldiers'
home. The unused balance was distrib-
uted among the several counties in the
proportion in which it was collected.55
At the close of the war the adjutant
general of Ohio reported that a grand
total of $5,618,864.89 was collected by
the state for the purpose of relief
for soldiers' families during the war
years.56 A comparison of this amount
with those collected by some of the
states of the Confederacy shows that
this was not a very large sum for the
third most populous state of the
Union. The state of North Carolina
appropriated $6,020,000 for this
purpose during the war years;57 Louisiana appropriated
$9,700,000,58
while Virginia appropriated only
$1,000,000, preferring to rely chiefly
on the system of county aid.59 In
Wisconsin the state tax brought in $2,-
545,873.78 for this purpose.60 Such
figures, however, may be misleading
in that they do not include county and
town levies, nor the important source
of private contributions.
108 OHIO HISTORY
Not even the most patriotic leaders in
the state assumed that public funds
would be more than a part of the
support for the relief of soldiers' families.
Private benevolence was expected to
supplement public support. In his
message to the general assembly in
January 1863 Governor Tod told the
members, "We are proud to know
that every neighborhood of our state is
blessed with generous and benevolent
souls."61 In 1864 Governor Brough
stated in his inaugural that "in
many counties . . . the private collections
for soldiers' families have
considerably exceeded, and in some cases doubled
the amount of the [state] tax."62 Contributions
from these generous and
benevolent persons were obtained in a
variety of ways.
One of the most important and active
agencies in Cincinnati giving aid
to soldiers' families was the
Cincinnati Relief Union. It had been organized
in 1848 with the following objectives:
to prevent vagrancy and street beg-
ging; to prevent imposition on the
benevolent; to provide work for those
who needed it; to place the youth in
schools and Sunday Schools; and to
give relief by gifts of food, clothing,
and fuel. Money was seldom given to
the recipient of its charity.63 An
annual canvass for funds was undertaken
each year; business houses and private
homes were solicited. With the
advent of the war and the needs of
soldiers' families, the union expanded
its activities. With its headquarters
at 99 West Sixth Street it had an or-
ganization to collect and distribute
funds and supplies. By the year 1862
nearly three-fourths of its cases were
families of soldiers.64 In the following
year (1863) it distributed fuel,
groceries, and clothing at the rate of nearly
$100 per day; its annual report for
that year stated that it had aided 3,400
families, of whom 2,448 were families
of soldiers.65 During the month of
January 1865--one of the most trying
months of the war--the union cared
for 2,000 families, of whom 1,500 were
those of needy soldiers.66 Its
officers and solicitors were nearly all
businessmen. One of its most active
workers in soliciting funds was C. W.
Starbuck, editor of the Cincinnati
Daily Times.67
Ward military committees likewise
solicited and distributed funds for
this purpose, in addition to securing
volunteers and bounty subscriptions.
In 1863 the eleventh ward committee in
Cincinnati gave an oyster supper
to help raise funds for the relief of its
needy families of soldiers, at which
Judge Alphonso Taft and General William
S. Rosecrans spoke.68 The
fifteenth ward committee was unusually
active in distributing about $3,000
during 1863.69 During the
holiday season of 1863 the Cincinnati branch
of the United States Sanitary
Commission sponsored its great fair for
soldiers' relief. On January 6, 1864,
there was held a grand donation ball,
and, on January 8, 1864, a grand
supper, the proceeds from both being for
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 109
the relief of soldiers' families. About
$7,500 was raised by these events
for family relief.70
Such efforts, however, were not
sufficient for the year 1864. There were
four heavy calls for troops during that
year, including the Hundred Days
Men. During the spring and summer these
members of the national guard
from the states of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa were called
into active service for one hundred days
in order to release more seasoned
veterans from guarding railway lines,
garrisoning forts, and other behind-
the-lines duties. It was hoped that
these men, with those already in the field,
could supply the necessary manpower to
win the war that year. In Cincinnati
three regiments and one battalion of the
national guard were called up at
the busiest season of the year. Nearly
all of these men had dependents;
this, coupled with the suddenness of the
call and the fact that they were not
entitled to a bounty, worked a great
hardship on their families.71
In 1864 the Union armies embarked on
massive sweeping movements. In
the spring Generals Grant and Sherman
began their final grand strategy
that eventually wore out the Confederate
armies. The battles of the Wilder-
ness and Cold Harbor and the siege of
Petersburg in the Virginia theater
added to the casualty lists; Sherman's
invasion of the South and his march
to the sea culminated in the capture of
Atlanta on September 2 and Savannah
in December. Due to these extensive
campaigns of the armies, soldiers'
pay was in arrears, and allotments were
long delayed. The government
clothing depot in Cincinnati, which had
given employment to many soldiers'
wives as seamstresses, closed in 1864.72
The winter of 1864-65 was indeed
a bleak one. By November 1864 it was
estimated that 4,000 families of
soldiers were on relief in Hamilton
County.73
The necessity of securing additional
funds was understood by officials.
On November 14, 1864, Governor Brough
sent an urgent message to the
various county military committees
throughout the state calling on them to
act at once to prevent extreme hardship
among soldiers' families during that
winter. He suggested the Thanksgiving
season as an appropriate time to
seek funds, and urged rural areas to
share the burden with the towns. He
called for gifts in kind as well as in
money. Since fuel was so important,
he suggested that farmers bring in
supplies of wood as well as part of their
garden produce from the previous summer.
"I do not ask charity for the
families of these men," he wrote,
"I ask open manifestations of gratitude."74
Spurred by the urgency of the local
situation and the official appeal of
the governor, the Hamilton County
Military Committee called a public
meeting to make plans for meeting the
emergency. It was determined to
undertake a city-wide solicitation of
funds. All organizations in the city
110 OHIO HISTORY
were encouraged to contribute, and the
various churches were asked to
send ladies to a general meeting to plan
their part of the drive.75 The ladies,
remembering the success of the sanitary
fair held during the previous year,
which had netted $235,000, decided to
undertake a similar project for the
families of soldiers but on a somewhat
more modest scale.76 In addition
to the fair, there was a series of
entertainments, both social and dramatic.
The entire project was known as the
Testimonial to Soldiers' Families.
The first event was held at Wood's
Theater on December 12, with a
benefit performance of the drama,
"All That Glitters Is Not Gold; or the
Factory Girl's Diary."77 The
Union Dramatic Association of amateurs
staged an entertainment at the residence
of Judge James Hall, consisting of
two short plays, "A Pretty Piece of
Business" and "Box and Cox," which
the newspapers reported as being
"both piquant and spicy." This effort of
the amateurs netted $300.78 At the other
end of the cultural spectrum was
a recital of sacred music at the Seventh
Presbyterian Church, which brought
in $335.79 Among the last events was a
great amateur performance of
Shakespeare's Hamlet at Pike's
Opera House, in which Lieutenant Governor
Charles Anderson took the leading role
and Thomas Buchanan Read recited
the prologue. This affair netted
$5,227.30.80
It was the fair, however, which occupied
the center of public attention.
It was housed in a large four-story
building at 94 West Fourth Street.
General Joseph Hooker, who was stationed
in Cincinnati in command of
the northern department of the army, was
the honorary president. He
visited the fair each day and evening. Other
military leaders who were
in the city, such as General William S.
Rosecrans and General August T.
Willich, also paid visits. At various
booths were sold all manner of articles
and refreshments; Christmas trees, with
their decorations, were sold in
large numbers; and the floral displays
were unusual. There was a fish
pond and a post office. At the latter,
the reporter for the Cincinnati Gazette
wrote, "was a circle of young
ladies, . . . [and] the fact that their own
tapering fingers write the pretty
nothings they give to any who may call . . .
combined with . . . their own wit, . . .
does not constitute the least attractive
feature of the elegant establishment."81
The fair closed with an elaborate
grand supper and ball held at the Burnet
House on the evening of December
30, at which it was claimed 4,000
persons were fed by "ladies of the elite
of the first social circles of the city,
in elegant toilettes." The families of
the soldiers were served a New Year's
dinner on December 31 from the food
remaining.82
Although reports on gifts and proceeds
were published almost daily in
the local newspapers, a final report
cannot be found. Some contributions
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES 111 were being received as late as March 1865. The money in hand, however, was distributed at once. On February 28, 1865, the fourth installment of $10,000 was distributed to families--a total of $40,000 up to that time.83 It is probable that about $50,000 was earned from all of the events and solicitations comprising this testimonial. The sanitary fair of the preceding year and this Testimonial to Soldiers' Families were the most strikingly dramatic and colorful episodes in the war-time life of Cincinnati. Butler County, Ohio, had staged a similar event at its county seat, Hamilton, in 1863, at which $9,600 was received,84 and it is probable that other cities and towns had similar events throughout the war for this purpose. They offered a constructive outlet for popular support and an escape from war- time tensions, particularly for women. They were also dramatic reminders that the needs of the families of soldiers were on the public conscience. In the case of the Cincinnati testimonial, it provided a boost needed to carry on relief during the remainder of the stark winter of 1864-65. |
|
For the number of soldiers' families receiving relief in Ohio during the war, accurate figures are not available. The ratio at which officials at Columbus estimated the number of necessitous families during 1862 and 1863 was one of every four.85 The enumeration made by assessors in 1865 indicated that there were 44,090 families of soldiers in the state at that time, of which 37,118 were necessitous. These necessitous families in 1865 included 121,923 persons.86 This represents a sharp rise in necessitous families during the war from twenty-five percent to eighty-four percent. This was due to the casualties over the war years, the prolonged absence of |
112 OHIO HISTORY
soldiers in the field, and the sharp
rise in the cost of living. The change in
the law in 1865 by which counties
received state funds in proportion to the
necessitous families within the county
also probably led to more liberal
standards of need.
It was probably inevitable that charges
would be made of political parti-
sanship in local administration of this
type of relief. This was true in
Ohio in 1863 and 1864 during the heat of
the state and national election
campaigns. In April 1864 Governor Brough
asserted that there "were almost
daily complaints" of townships
trustees in certain localities--that women
were rudely treated by the local
officials when they sought relief; that they
were compelled to travel distances to
obtain signatures for papers, causing
considerable inconvenience; or that they
were "insultingly catechised" as
to their means of support. "I am
mortified that these things are so," he
wrote to the county military committees
in urging them to investigate such
complaints. In a few extreme cases it
was found that the relief funds had
been diverted to bridge funds and other
local projects.87 In his message to
the general assembly Governor Brough
later stated that recalcitrant trustees
had not so much refused to conform to
the law as they were dilatory in
granting relief; that it was their
manner rather than their denial of relief
that was objected to.88
The end of the war in April 1865 and the
rapid demobilization consider-
ably lessened the problem of family
relief. There were still the war
casualties to be helped--the orphans,
widows, and disabled soldiers, many
of whom had families. The Ohio Volunteer
Family Relief had provided a
transitional form of relief for this set
of needy casualties, and, before the
end of the war, plans were already in
operation for more adequate means of
help for them. The federal government
would undertake a major part of
this relief through its pension system,
the soldiers' homes, and other
methods. Except in occasional times of
local disaster, it is probable that
this relief for soldiers' families
during the Civil War was more extensive
and continued longer than any other type
of relief in the state before that
time.
THE AUTHOR: Joseph E. Holliday is assist-
ant dean of the college of arts and
sciences and
professor of history at the University
of Cin-
cinnati.
AN ACT For the relief of the families of volunteers
in the State or United States service. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of
Tax levied, Ohio, That for the relief of the necessities of the families of volun- three-fifths of a teers who now are, or hereafter may be, in the service of this state mill
on the or the United States, there be and hereby is levied and assessed, for dollar
valua- the year 1862, three-fifths
of one mill on the dollar valuation on the tion. grand list of the taxable property of the State; and the amount so Collected
as levied land assessed shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes. state taxes are collected. LAWS OF OHIO,
1862 Title and first section of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, February 13, 1862 |
RELIEF FOR SOLDIERS' FAMILIES IN OHIO DURING THE CIVIL WAR by JOSEPH E.
HOLLIDAY One of the aspects of the Civil War on the home front
which has received scant attention by historians is that of aid for the
families of men in the armed services. The work of the United States
Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Commission has been
recognized, but the ex- tensive work of these commissions was chiefly for
the welfare of the soldiers themselves. The impact of the war on those who were
left behind when the breadwinner was called to serve at the front has
received little attention. Yet to the communities both North and South in which
these families lived, common justice, humanity, and the level of morale
demanded that the soldiers' dependents be reasonably secured against
real privation. A number of methods for the relief of soldiers'
families were used in the state of Ohio. During the Civil War it was the
third most populous state in the Union, with a population in 1860 of
2,339,511. The complete story of this relief can never be told, inasmuch as a great
deal of it was given through local and private sources and data are
either lacking or are too difficult to trace. However, some information
regarding this phase of it is available for the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton
County. At that time Cincinnati was the largest city in the
state--indeed, it was the largest city west of the Alleghenies, with a population in 1860
of 161,044. The various methods of aiding the families of soldiers in that
city can serve as some indication of those used in other cities in the
state and in the West. Communities in Ohio were little prepared in 1861 to
take care of the unforeseen needs of soldiers' families, except by
the existing system of NOTES ARE ON PAGES 194-196 |