July 11, 1864
"National" Office, Fairmont,
West Va., July 9, 1864.
Dear John Donlon;
Dear Sir: I enclose you a check for $72.15, being the amount of collections made by one our West Virginia Union girls, Miss Mollie E. Strum, of Bingammon, Harrison County. She rode five days - long, hot days - over a sparsely populated section of country, to collect the above amount, in items ranging from five cents to two dollars! Don't you think she deserves a special praise? When or where has such self sacrificing devotion to the welfare of the suffering soldiers been exhibited? Were half our young ladies so devoted, so self-denying and enthusiastic in the case of the Union, how much good could be done; how much pain and suffering could be alleviated and how much sooner the war would end in the overthrow of the rebellion! Who will emulate the noble example of Miss Sturm? Let us teach our children to honor the memories of the patriotic ladies who minister with angle hands to the heroes, suffering that the Union may be presented.
Yours truly,
J.N. Boyd.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: Undated: July 1864