Hampshire County MA Archives Military Records.....Citizens' Relief Work 
Spanishwar Co. I, 2nd Regt. Massachusetts Infantry
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Citizens' Relief Work
CITIZENS' RELIEF WORK.

   The citizens of Northampton rallied nobly to the support of their
representatives at the front and to the relief of the soldiers after their
return from the campaign, suffering from the exhausting hardships and diseases.
While Co. I was in this country the men were generously furnished with edible
and smokable luxuries by friends at home. A supply of comfort bags, fully
equipped, was sent to the company at Tampa by the Woman's Relief Corps. Learning
that the most satisfactory way of aiding the soldiers would be by placing money
in the captain's charge, to be expended as occasion demanded, S. W. Lee, Jr.,
circulated a subscription paper and in a few hours secured $752, of which amount
he forwarded $675 to Captain Williams at Tampa on June 7. The balance was turned
over to Mrs. H. L. Williams, who used it in general relief work later.

   After the surrender of Santiago an attempt was made to send supplies to the
company by the cruiser St. Louis, which had brought a load of Spanish prisoners
to Portsmouth, N. H., and was ordered to take supplies on the return trip. Mrs.
Williams and Charles Beckmann sent a telephone order to merchants in Boston for
several cases of food and clothing to be forwarded to Portsmouth, and the order
was promptly filled. Unfortunately the cases, though properly labelled, were
overlooked by the officials at Portsmouth and did not go on the St. Louis, but
finally reached Montauk in time to be of some benefit to the men on their
arrival from Cuba.

   Mrs. Williams, T. B. Ewing and Charles Beckmann were the first Northampton
people to greet the Co. I boys after the disembarkation at Montauk and they
rendered valuable service. Mrs. Williams was a veritable angel of mercy and
benificence, procuring a skilled cook for the company, supplying the men with
fresh mik, eggs and delicacies and securing special favors from the camp
officials. In her ministrations she was as faithful and devoted to the privates
as to the captain, and her noble work in their behalf endeared her to every
soldier. Dr. H. T. Shores and R. G. Williams also aided the boys while they were
in camp at Montauk.

   Organized relief work was begun immediately after the soldiers reached home,
the following committee having charge: Captain Williams, chairman; Hubbard M.
Abbott, treasurer; John F. Lambie, secretary; Mrs. H. L. Williams, Mrs. J. F.
Lambie, Mr. and Mrs. George H. Ray, Dr. H. T. Shores.

   Subscriptions were solicited and the handsome sum of $2,246.60 was
contributed. This money was expended for the benefit of all needy soldiers in
the city, and to defray the expenses of John L. Allis' trip to Santiago to bring
back the bodies of Co. I's dead. The physicians of the city gave their services
without charge.

   Upon his return to this country in July, in a seriously wounded condition,
Lieut. Moynihan was made the beneficiary of a subscription of $150 which was
secured by Ex-Mayor Henry P. Field. Rev. P. H. Gallen, of Florence, also secured
subscriptions in his parish aggregating about $100.

   Northampton was the only place in Massachusetts to receive a share of the
Lipton Relief Fund, of $10,000, sent to New York by Sir Thomas Lipton of the
English peerage. Edward A. Sumner of New York, chairman of the committee in
charge of the distribution of that fund, sent $200 to Charles B. Kingsley for
the relief of Co. I, having learned through Mr. Kingsley of the condition and
needs of the men. The total amount of cash contributed for public relief work in
the city was about $3,450.

   Secretary Dwight L. Rogers, of the Northampton Young Men's Christian
Association, resigned his position to engage in the work of the national
association in the United States army camps. He had charge of Y. M. C. A. tents
in camps in this country and in Porto Rico, and rendered valuable service with
the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment.

Miss Laura D. Gill, teacher at the Capen School in Northampton, resigned her
position in June to take charge of the Red Cross headquarters at Tampa, serving
there with ability and devotion throughout the war.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

NORTHAMPTON IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
BY
JAMES R. GILFILLAN
AND
HERBERT E. RILEY.

ILLUSTRATED.

PRESS OF
ENTERPRISE PRINTING COMPANY
EASTHAMPTON, MASS.
1899.

Copyright, 1899,
by J. R. Gilfillan and H. E. Riley.


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