Ladies' aid societies

[1] The work these women did in providing sanitary supplies and blankets to soldiers helped lessen the spread of diseases during the Civil War.

[2] Free black women often formed their own ladies' aid societies, like the Colored Ladies Soldiers' Aid Society of St. Louis, Missouri, headed by Mary Meachum, which tended to black Union soldiers at the local hospital.

Dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid and malaria were all diseases caused by the overcrowdedness and unsanitary conditions during the war.

Months after the women organized the raid, they connected with other local groups to create the Soldiers' Aid Society.

They established their distribution center at 95 Bank (W. 6th) St. From February 22 to March 10, 1864, the women from the Soldiers' Aid Society held a Sanitation Fair.