User:Johncavilia/Nevada in the American Civil War

Sanitary commission

During the time of the Civil War there lacked an organization to help administer aid and help wounded and sick soldiers. Similar to the role that the red cross played later in history, The Sanitary Commission sought find way to help the wounded, sick and disabled soldiers of the war. This Commission was started in 1862 after the war had already started and disembodied in 1865. The Sanitary commission in Nevada was able to raise the most per capita amount of money in the union to the looks of $163,581.07. This amount in today’s currency would be around $2,296,678.0 and this wasn’t only money donated. This commission of volunteers created the Sanitary fund which got its funding form subscriptions or by any other way people saw fit to assist the cause. They were able to create excitement around the idea by doing different promotional acts. One of these promotional ideas that in the end raised around $10,500 (1865 currency) was the “Sanitary Sack of Flower,” which brought a lot of revenue in from just one event. This event brought both the republican and democrat party's together to help raise money for the war. It started out as a wager between the owner of a grocery store (Reuel Gridley Democrat) and the collector of internal revenue for Nevada Dr. H. S. Herrick Republican. the loser of the wager had to carry a fifty pound flower sac from Clifton to Austin (about one mile) and if the loser is a republican they must march to the song of "dixie" and if Democrat they must march to " John Browns Body." Dr. H. S. Herrick won the wager and in turn the southern sympathized marched through the streets with a decorated flour sack with American flags and paint red white and blue. This drew the attention of many people and ended up bring a lot of attention and money towards the commission. A Through the duration of the Sanitary Fund they in total collected around $275,000 (1865 currency) to aid the sick and wounded soldiers. Although not everyone in Nevada was for joining the union this helped to bring the state together to focus its efforts on an issue that both sides could see was good and beneficial for the overall well-being of the nation. Also, this program helped to focus the attention of the nation on the generosity and community of the people living in Nevada.

Nevada Volunteers

The Nevada volunteer group was arranged from people form Carson City, Virginia city, Reno, and Dayton. This group was originally considered to be a part of the California volunteer group but was actually organized, ran, and implemented in Carson City by Charles D. Douglas. The officers and members of the volunteer group were from the general public and used their own firearms when in battle. Often times the leaders were veteran from the Mexican American war and many officers held elected public positions prior to them serving in the volunteer forces. As the volunteer groups began to grow and become larger they began to implement more training. In 1863 at the outpost of fort Churchill, California was tasked with training Nevada Volunteers to be officers to the standards of the United States Army. often times these groups served without pay but on occasion would reserve little bits of money form either local government or by the local businesses. The work these volunteers did was out of gratitude and loyalty to the Union they had joined during the time of its establishment. < (add previous stated wiki info)>  The Nevada volunteer group and all the  forts, outpost, training grounds, and other military areas can be traced through history to today’s current Army and Air Nation Guard in Nevada.