soon came to feel that all Union soldiers were
her brothers, and she ministered to all without distinction of State
lines. She lost during the war a lovely and beautiful daughter, Jessie
Fremont Harlan, and the love which had been bestowed upon her overflowed
after her death upon the soldiers of the Union. Her faithfulness,
energy, and continuous labors in behalf of the soldiers, her earnestness
in protecting them from wrongs or oppression, her quick sympathy with
their sorrows, and her zealous efforts for their spiritual good, will be
remembered by many thousands of them all over the country. Mrs. Harlan
early advocated the mingling of religious effort with the distribution
of physical comforts among the soldiers, and though she herself would
probably shrink from claiming, as some of her enthusiastic friends have
done for her, the honor of inaugurating the movement which culminated in
the organization of the Christian Commission, its plan of operations was
certainly fully in accordance with her own, and she was from the
beginning one of its most active and efficient supporters.
Mrs. Harlan was accompanied in many of her visits to the army by Mrs.
Almira Fales, of whom we have elsewhere given an account, and whose
husband having been the first State Auditor of Iowa, was drawn to her
not only by the bond of a common benevolence, but by State ties, which
led them both to seek the good of the soldiers in whom both felt so deep
an interest. Mrs. Harlan continued her labors for the soldiers till
after the close of the war, and has been active since that time in
securing for them their rights. Her health was much impaired by her
protracted efforts in their behalf, and during the year 1866 she was
much of the time an invalid.
NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION.
The "New England Society," of New York City, is an Association of long
standing, for charitable and social purposes, and is composed of natives
of New England, residing in New York, and its vicinity. Soon after the
outbreak of the war, this society became the nucleus of a wider and less
formal organization--the Sons of New England. In April, 1862, these
gentlemen formed the New England Soldiers' Relief Association, whose
object was declared to be "to aid and care for all sick and wounded
soldiers passing through the city of New York, on their way to or from
the war." On the 8th of April, its "Home," a building well adapted to
its purposes, was opened
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