with a minimum of complaint. Fault finding never ceases while the seasons change; but the finding of fault with the gratuitous services of men well known in a community has no power to injure.

"While their labors were prosecuted under this plan, nearly every member of the branch was brought into personal contact with the work of distribution. They were present on the battle field of Shiloh. They were first at Perryville and Fort Donelson, at which point they inaugurated the system of hospital steamers. They called to their aid successfully the services of the most eminent surgeons and physicians, and the first citizens of Cincinnati. They gained the confidence of the legislature of Ohio, which made them an appropriation of three thousand dollars, and of the city council of Cincinnati, who paid them, in like manner, the sum of two thousand dollars, and of the secretary of war and quartermaster-general, who placed at their control, at government expense, a steamer, which for months navigated the western waters in the transportation of supplies and of the sick and wounded. They fitted out, in whole or part, thirty-two such steamers, some running under their own management, others under that of the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati, the United States sanitary commission and the war department.

"The relief at Fort Donelson by this branch constituted a marked, and, at the time, novel instance of their mode of management, which may properly receive more specific mention here, as it elicited high praise from the western secretary and the compliment of a vote of encouragement from the United States sanitary commission. In this case a handsome sum was at once raised by subscription among the citizens, and the steamer Allen Collier was chartered, loaded with hospital supplies and medicines, placed under the charge of five members of the branch, with ten volunteer surgeons and thirty-six nurses, and dispatched to the Cumberland river. At Louisville the western secretary accepted an invitation to join the party. It was also found practicable to accommodate on board one delegate from the Columbus, and another from the Indianapolis branch commission, with a further stock of supplies from the latter. The steamer reached Donelson in advance of any other relief agency. Great destitution was found to exist; on the field no chloroform at all and but little morphia, and on the floating hospital Fanny Bullitt, occupied by three hundred wounded, only two ounces of cerate, no meat for soup, no wood for cooking, and the only bread, hard bread, not a spoon or a candlestick. The suffering was corresponding. Happily the Collier bore an ample stock, and, with other parties on a like errand, who soon arrived, the surgeon's task was speedily made lighter and his patients gained in comfort. The Collier returned, after a short delay, bringing a load of wounded to occupy hospitals at Cincinnati, which this branch had meanwhile, under the authority of General Halleck, and with the aid of that efficient and able officer Dr. John Moore, then post surgeon at Cincinnati, procured and furnished.

"This was but the beginning of very arduous and extensive services personally and gratuitously rendered by members of this branch. They travelled thousands of miles on hospital steamers on their errands of mercy, and spent weeks and months in laborious service on battle fields and in camps and hospitals. They aided the government in the establishment of eight hospitals in Cincinnati

and Covington, and suggested and assisted the work of preparing Camp Dennison, seventeen miles distant, as a general hospital, for the reception of thousands of patients. They bought furniture, became responsible for rent and the pay of nurses, provided material for the supply table, hired physicians, and in numberless ways secured that full and careful attention to the care and comfort of the soldier, which, from inexperience, want of means, or the fear of responsibility, would otherwise, during the first and second years of the war, have been wanting.

"During the period to which allusion has been made, the United States sanitary commission had few resources, and those mostly employed in proper service at the east, where the members principally reside. This branch was called on to aid that body, and, to the extent of its means, responded. At one time (early in 1862) it was supposed impossible to sustain that organization, except by a monthly contribution from each of the several branches, continued for six months; and this branch was assessed to pay to that end the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars per month for the time specified, which call was met by an advance of the entire sum required, viz: two thousand, three hundred and seventyfive dollars. This sum, small as it now seems, in comparison with the enormous contributions of a later date, was then considered no mean subsidy by either of the parties to it.

"In May, 1862, the Soldiers' Home of the branch was established, an institution which, since its opening, has entertained, with a degree of comfort scarcely surpassed by the best hotels of the city, over eighty thousand soldiers, furnishing them three hundred and seventy-two thousand meals. It has recently been furnished with one hundred new iron bedsteads, at a cost of five hundred dollars. The establishment and maintenance of the home the members of the Cincinnati branch look upon as one of their most valuable works, second in importance only to the relief furnished by the 'sanitary steamers' dispatched promptly to the battle fields, with surgeons, nurses, and stores, and with beds to bring away the wounded and the sick, and they may, perhaps, be permitted, with some pride, to point to these two important systems of relief inaugurated by them. The necessity for the last mentioned method of relief has nearly passed away; we hope it may soon pass away entirely, never to return. The home still stands in our midst, offering food and rest to the hungry and way-worn soldier, and reminding us of the kind hearts and loyal hands whose patriotic contributions and patient toil, supplementing the aid furnished by the government through the quarter-master and commissary departments of the army, have enabled them to establish it. To this aid of a generous and benign government, dispensed with kindness and alacrity by the officers who have been at the heads of these departments in this city, this institution is indebted, in great measure, for its existence and usefulness.

"May we not hope this aid will be continued, and that so long as the necessity for a soldiers' home exists, it may be able to send forth its invitation, open at all hours, free to all soldiers; and that the efficient superintendent, G. W. D. Andrews, Esq., who, under the supervision of a committee of the branch, has managed its affairs from its birth, may, when the necessity for it shall cease, be there to bid God speed to its last guest?

"The importance of perpetuating the names of all soldiers whose lives had been or might be sacrificed in the defense of our government, being an anxious concern of many of the members of our commission, and regarded by them as of so much importance, they early resolved that so far as they could control this matter, not only should this be done, but that their last resting place should be in our beautiful city of the dead, Spring Grove Cemetery. An early interview was had with the trustees, who promptly responded to the wishes of the commission, and gratuitously donated for that purpose a conspicuous lot, near the charming lake, of a circular shape, and in size sufficient to contain three hundred bodies. In addition thereto, this generous association have interred, free of expense for interment, all the soldiers buried there. This lot having become occupied, the commission arranged for another of similar size and shape, near by, for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. The subject of the payment of the same having been presented to the legislature of Ohio, the members unanimously agreed that, as a large proportion of those who were to occupy this ground as their last home were the sons of Ohio, it was the proper duty of the state to contribute thereto. In accordance therewith, an appropriation of three thousand dollars was made for the purpose, subject to the approval of his Excellency, Governor Tod. A third circle, of the same size and shape, adjacent to the others, was, therefore, secured at the same price. The propriety of this expenditure was approved of by the governor, after a careful examination of the ground and its value. Two of these lots have been filled, and the third is in readiness for occupancy, should it become necessary. A record is carefully made, on the books of the cemetery, of the name, age, company and regiment of each soldier interred there, that relatives, friends and strangers may know, in all time to come, that we, for whom their lives were given, were not unmindful of the sacrifice they had made, and that we properly appreciate the obligations we are under to them for their efforts in aiding to secure to us and future generations the blessings of a redeemed and regenerated country.

"In view of the work of this branch, from the commencement, we can not but express our heart-felt gratitude to that kind Providence which has so signally blessed its efforts, and made the commission instrumental in the distribution of the large amount of donations which have been poured into their hands by full and free hearts, for the benefit of sufferers who are bravely defending our country and homes.

"It will be seen that one and a half per cent on the cash receipts, from the commencement, will cover all expenses for clerk hire, labor, freight, drayage, and other incidental matters; and this comparative small expense is, in great measure, owing to the extreme liberality, which should here be gratefully acknowledged, of the free use of the telegraph wires, and the free carriage of hundreds of tons of stores by the several express companies, railroads and steamboats.

"With all this liberality, our supplies would long since have been exhausted by the constantly increasing requirements of our soldiers had not the sagacity and enterprise of a number of energetic and patriotic gentlemen suggested the idea of, and inaugurated the Great Western Sanitary Fair of this city, the wonderful result of which realized (to the commission) over a quarter of a million dollars,