“destitution, insult and wrong”

no mittens

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in January 1863:

Our Suffering Soldiers.

It is a fact that can no longer be denied, that suffering of the most aggravated character exists among the soldiers, from the neglect of Government. In all of the letters received from the army we have the same complaint. many of the Regiments have not been paid in seven months, and friends at home, or at least those who have the means, are compelled to send forward the funds to obtain those comforts which money alone can procure. The entire army appears to be in the most destitute circumstances, with but little hope of relief. The men are poorly clad, destitute of shoes and mittens, and without means to purchase whatever the Government neglects or refuses to furnish. And it is not the soldier alone that suffers. Many have families at home dependent on them for sustenance, but in consequence of the shameful dilatoriness of the Government, they can afford them no assistance whatever, and we have the humiliating spectacle of soldiers’ wives and children soliciting aid from their more fortunate neighbors. Is not this disgraceful to the Government, and the cause we are pretending to uphold? Nothing it seems can arouse the authorities at Washington to a sense of justice to the brave men who are imperilling their lives to uphold the Government.

The contractors who are plundering the Treasury find no difficulty in getting their pay, neither do the pimps and menials of power, who are dogging the footsteps of loyal Democrats with a view of their arrest and incarceration. The poor, unfortunate soldier is the sufferer. He can suffer destitution, insult and wrong at the hands of the Government, and if a need be, death, uncomplainingly.

The following image was published in the October 24, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly and is hosted at Son of the South.

SERVICE AND SHODDY—A PICTURE OF THE TIMES.