Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
NORTHWEST SANITARY COMMISSION
NORTHWEST SANITARY COMMISSION. Among the predecessors of the Red Cross. With the start of the CIVIL WAR, women by the hundreds organized soldier aid societies in the north. Initially these groups sent contributions directly to the local troops on the battlefield. Later aid was sent to sanitary commissions that distributed the material. The largest of these agencies in the Midwest was the Northwest Sanitary Commission in Chicago, lllinois.
Many Iowans visited the fair. Women from Dubuque helped by contributing hundreds of wild ducks, turkeys, and prairie chickens that were shipped while still warm to the fair's dining hall.