Image ID: AILG

Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book Of The War. Vol. 2, No. 51. The Shebang, or Quarters of U. S. Sanitary Commission, Brandy Station. November, 1863. Here is represented one of the establishments of the Sanitary Commission in the army. The object of the Commission was to alleviate the hardships of the soldier life, to afford physical comfort to the sick and wounded, and supply such of the well as were needy with under-clothing, &c. The Departments, or Special Bureaus, were established at Washington, New York, Louisville, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Annapolis, and City Point, in addition to which there have been the Departments of Western Virginia, of the South, and Texas. The funds of the Commission were raised by means of Sanitary Fairs in the principal cities, and by voluntary subscriptions. The report of the Treasurer shows that from June 27th, 1861 to July 1st, 1865, the receipts were $4,813,750 64, and the disbursements $4,530,774 95, leaving a balance in the hands of the Commission of $282,975 69. In 1863 a Protective War Claim Association was established, and made subordinate to the Commission, for the purpose of making direct applications for pensions, arrears of pay, bounty and prize money, and for giving general information and advice relative to military and naval matters. No charges were made for these services, thus saving to the widows and representatives of the soldiers the usual fee of claim agents, which in these cases would have amounted to $240,000
The Relief Bureau of the Commission closed on the 1st July, 1865. At that time there were vast stores and material on hand, all of which were turned over to General Howard’s Bureau for the benefit of freedmen. The Claim Bureau will close on the 1st of January, 1866, and turn over to the Central Bureau at Washigton [sic] all the papers and documents in its possession. From that time foward [wic], the Commission will devote itself to the preparation of a historical record, a final and full report, and the settlement of its affairs in closing up the several agencies. What will be done with the surplus funs has not yet been determined, but it is expected that they will be transferred as an endowment to some institution devoted to the interests of soldiers and of their families.

Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War, Vol. 7, p335: These quarters at Brandy Station were known as the “Shebang.”