Friday, February 21, 2014

February 23, 1864---Brooklyn Contributes



FEBRUARY 23, 1864:        

The Brooklyn Academy of Music hosted the Brooklyn and Long Island Sanitary Fair, a fundraiser for the Sanitary Commission, which provided medical assistance to Union soldiers on the front lines of the Civil War. The Fair was a tremendous success, raising $402,943.74 (in 1864 dollars!), a great point of pride for Brooklyn, which had been invited to join New York’s sanitary fair, but in going it alone, outshone the metropolis across the river.