Editing Samuel Gridley Howe (section)

==Civil War and Reconstruction==
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Howe was one of the directors of the [[United States Sanitary Commission|Sanitary Commission]]. Its goal was to raise funds to improve hygiene standards and prevent outbreaks of disease at Union camps. Because of the lack of sanitation, camps were breeding grounds for such illnesses as [[dysentery]], [[typhoid]], and [[malaria]]. In addition, the Commission provided supplies and medical services to troops.<ref>Adams, George Worthington. ''Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War.'' Louisiana State University Press, 1996</ref>

At the close of the Civil War, Howe began to work with the [[Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands|Freedmen's Bureau]].<ref>Richards, Laura E. (Howe). ''Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe'', page 479. Boston: Dana Estes & Company, 1909.</ref> This extended his work as an abolitionist. The Freedmen's Bureau was to help house, feed, clothe, educate, and provide medical care to newly-freed slaves in the South after the Civil War.<ref>Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Augusta County, Virginia. http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/freedmen/fb-socialservices.html</ref><ref>Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Augusta County, Virginia. http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/freedmen/fs-intro.html</ref> In some instances, Bureau staff helped [[freedmen]] to locate and reunite with relatives who had either fled north or who had been sold away during slavery.<ref>Harrison, Robert. "Welfare and Employment Policies of the Freedmen's Bureau in the District of Columbia," ''Journal of Southern History.'' (February 1, 2006) http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15007364_ITM Accessed January 25, 2009.</ref>