Beschreibung:

Lot of 11 items, including 5 letters, 1 document, 3 pamphlets, 1 stamp cover, and 1 book from the collection of Cornelius Rea Agnew (1830-1888) relating to the US Sanitation Commission and his medical service during the Civil War. Cornelius Rea Agnew was a well respected doctor who entered Columbia College at 15 and graduated in 1849. He then attended the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and graduated in 1852. He joined the US Sanitary Commission on June 12, 1861, shortly after the Civil War commenced. The Commission was formed to provide sanitary and medical assistance to the United States armed forces, raising both funds and supplies from supporters in the US and abroad. As the war raged on, the Commission expanded its role and created the Standing Committee, of which Agnew was one of five commissioners. He also practiced in the field during the war, notably at Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) and the series of battles in Virginia during General Ulysses Grant’s Overland Campaign (May 4-June 24, 1864). He was lauded in Stillé’s History of the US Sanitary Commission, “He soon exhibited practical skill, executive ability, and at all times a perfect generosity of personal toil and trouble in carrying on the Commission’s work which gave him, during its whole progress, a commanding influence in its councils.” (p. 73) Among the archive of letters and documents are included a partly printed document from the Treasury Department for services at Gettysburg and Camp Lettermen from December 1, 1862 and May 1, 1863, as well as two letters he penned while at the front in May 1864. In a letter on US Sanitary Commission letterhead dated May 17, 1864, Agnew speculates, “There will probably be a...battle tomorrow morning. The rebels occupy a strong position within hopping distance & the battle may open any moment.” In response he and the Sanitary Commission organized a complex wagon relief effort to aid Grant’s army with Agnew ordering in the same letter, “let there be two strong wagons carefully inspected...loaded for the front with two fifths (2/5ths) whiskey & three fifths (3/5ths) milk, bandages, chocolate, chloroform & rags.” In an undated but contemporaneous letter, Agnew further emphasizes the need for supplies, “The...arrival of welfare from Washington makes it more than ever necessary to prepare to send materials to the front.” Agnew’s distinguished service to the USSC is perhaps best reflected in a letter from a former Confederate Gettysburg POW, Assistant Surgeon John Tyler McLean (1837-1879) of the 33rd North Carolina Infantry. McLean writes Agnew in 1875, “For twelve years I have been endeavoring to get your address that I might even after so long a time thank you for your kindnesses rendered me immediately after the battle of Gettysburg. Perhaps you have forgotten that while you were at Gettysburg on a mission of mercy connected with the Christian or Sanitary Commission you gave to a Confederate asst. surgeon a $20 greenback. That Rebel…was myself and I now beg to give you every assurance of my lasting gratitude for it contributed immensely to my well-being during a sojourn of six months in Fort Delaware & Fort McHenry. I thank you too Dr. for the comforts you gave me for the benefit of my wounded men. Sho'd I been obliged to rely exclusively on supplies from the U. S. Commissary + Hospital supplies ordinarily obtained in the army at that time, I would have had a horrible time with our poor men, many of whom perished with the best treatment. Another favor I desire to ask at your hands, Please send me your photograph that I may hang it up in my house and show it to my children, that they may see the face of a man whose soul could rise above the storm of strife that was pervading the land as a besom of destruction, and administer to the wants of suffering humanity, regardless of party or cause, ‘for Christ’s sake.’” Also included is a brief letter from the Army of the Potomac’s Chief Inspector for the Sanitary Com