(Photo)
In June 1861, Olmsted took a leave of
absence from
his Central Park duties and became the
first
executive secretary of the
U.S. Sanitary Commission. He used his
talents as an
administrator to help change the
fledgling
commission from an
advisory agency into an integral part
of the
Union's war effort.
He immediately set out to consolidate
the many
Northern soldiers' aid societies under
one central
authority and organized
a transport system for the goods going
to the
camps. Because military camps were
notorious for
their filth and
accompanying diseases, Olmsted sent out
inspectors
to assess and make suggestions for
remedying the
problems. Eventually
the commission looked into nearly every
aspect of
army life from the point of view of the
soldiers'
welfare, and its
activities were responsible for saving
thousands of
lives.
Hartford, Conn., native Frederick Law
Olmsted was well known before the start
of the Civil
War. Because of his
vocal opposition to slavery, the New
York Times
sent him to tour the South from 1852 to
1855 to
report on slavery and
the Southern economy. His weekly
reports painted an
accurate picture of the South and were
published in
the book The
Cotton Kingdom. He had earlier
written a book
about English landscaping, and in 1857
he became the
chief architect
for New York City's Central Park.