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.
