The condition of the loyal whites of East Tennessee and Northern Alabama and Georgia, deservedly excited the sympathy and liberality of the loyal North. No portion of the people of the United States had proved their devotion to the Union by more signal sacrifices, more patient endurance, or more terrible sufferings. The men for the mere avowal of their attachment to the Union flag and the Constitution were hunted like deer, and if caught, murdered in cold blood. Most of them managed, though with great peril, to escape to the Union army, where they became valuable soldiers, and by their thorough knowledge of the country and their skill in wood-craft rendered important service as scouts and pioneers. Whenever they escaped the Rebels visited them, their houses were plundered, their cattle and other live stock seized, and if the house was in a Rebel neighborhood or in a secluded situation, it was burned and the wife and children driven out penniless, and often maltreated, outraged or murdered. If they escaped with their lives they were obliged to hide in the caves or woods by day, and travel often hundreds of miles by night, to reach the Union lines. They came in, wearied, footsore, in rags, and often sick and nearly dead from starvation. When they reached Nashville, or Knoxville after it came into our possession, they were in need of all things; shelter, food, clothing, medicine and care. A few of them were well educated; the majority were illiterate so far as book knowledge was concerned, but intelligent and thoughtful on the subject of loyalty and the war; not a few were almost reduced to a state of fatuity by their sufferings, and seemed to have lost all distinct consciousness of what was occurring around them. Nashville and Knoxville a little later, Memphis, Cairo, St. Louis, and Louisville swarmed with these poor loyal people, and efforts were made in each city to aid them. In the Northern cities large contributions of money and clothing were made for their relief. In Boston, Edward Everett, ever ready to aid the suffering, gave the great influence of his name, as well as his personal efforts, (almost the last act of his well-spent life) in raising a liberal fund for their help. In New York, Brooklyn and other cities, efforts were made which resulted in large contributions. In Philadelphia, Mrs. M. M. Hallowell, a lady of high position and great energy, appealed to the public for aid for these unfortunate people, and Governor Curtin and many other State and National official personages, gave their influence and contributions to the work. A large amount of money and stores having been collected, Mrs. Hallowell and a committee of ladies from Philadelphia visited Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Huntsville to distribute their stores in person. The journey undertaken early in May, 1864, was not unattended with danger; for, though General Sherman had commenced his great march toward Atlanta, Forrest, Morgan and Wheeler were exerting themselves to cut his communications and break up his connection with his base. Along some portions of the route the guerrillas swarmed, and more than once the cars were delayed by reports of trouble ahead. The courageous ladies, however, pushed forward and received from the generals in command the most hearty welcome, and all the facilities they required for their mission. They found that the suffering of the loyal refugees had not been exaggerated; that in many cases their misery was beyond description, and that from hunger, cold, nakedness, the want of suitable shelter, and the prevalence of malignant typhoid fever, measles, scarlet fever and the other diseases which usually prevail among the wretched and starving poor, very many had died, and others could not long survive. They distributed their stores freely yet judiciously, arranged to aid a home and farm for Refugees and Orphans which had been established near Nashville, and to render future assistance to those in need at Knoxville, Chattanooga, &c., and returned to Philadelphia. Mrs. Hallowell visited them again in the autumn, and continued her labors for them till after the close of the war. The Home for Refugees and Orphans near Nashville, formed a part of the battle ground in the siege and battles of Nashville in December, 1864, and was completely ruined for the time. Some new buildings of a temporary character were subsequently erected, but the close of the war soon rendered its further occupation unnecessary.

Mrs. Hallowell's earnest and continued labors for the refugees drew forth from the loyal men and women of East Tennessee letters full of gratitude and expressive of the great benefits she had conferred on them. Colonel N. G. Taylor, representative in Congress from East Tennessee, and one of the most eloquent speakers and writers in the West, among others, addressed her an interesting and touching letter of thanks for what she had done for his persecuted and tried constituents, from which we quote a single paragraph.

"Accept, my dear madam, for yourself and those associated with you, the warmest thanks of their representative, for the noble efforts you have been and are making for the relief of my poor, afflicted, starving people. Most of the men of East Tennessee are bleeding at the front for our country (this letter was written before the close of the war) whilst their wives and little ones are dying of starvation at home. They are worthy of your sympathy and your labor, for they have laid all their substance upon the altar of our country and have sacrificed everything they had for their patriotism."