They were made by Frederick County women over the past few months.
Several wounded warriors on Thursday were presented with something to keep them warm and comfortable. During a ceremony at Fort Detrick, military personnel were given quilts.
A number of Frederick County women took part in a project called "Serve Your Country; Make A Quilt." Over the past several months, they spent long hours knitting and sewing so that the wounded military men and women would have quilts.
"It was just my way of giving back to the soldiers who have done so much for us. Just a little token of what I can do to help and to thank them," said Ruthann Daugherty, who with Maryanne Ludy, worked on a quilt between September and December. It was presented to PFC Timothy Payne.
Another soldier who received a quilt was Sergeant 1st Class Humberto Maltez, who was injured while serving on an Army ship in the Persian Gulf. "I feel honored. I feel really great that they take their time to do things like that for us, let us know that they do support us," Sergeant Maltez says.
The tradition of knitting a quilt for a soldier goes back to Civil War, where each community had a Soldiers Aid Society. These organizations provided food, clothing, bandages, medical supplies, socks and quilts to the men fighting in the conflict.
There were 7,000 Soldiers Aid Societies across the nation during that time, according to background provided by Fort Detrick. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the creation of the US Sanitary Commission to organize civilian war efforts. The USSC asked that the size of the quilts be 48-inches by 84-inches so they could be used in hospitals and as bedrolls for soldiers.
Daugherty noted that the size of her quilt meets USSC regulations. "We made them to replicate that since it's the anniversary of the Civil War," she says.
One of the recipients of a quilt was Specialist Samantha Stewart, who remembers all of the hard that goes into making a quilt. "I've seen my mom and my grandmas making them ever since I was a little kid," she says. "I know how much work goes into making one. And it's neat to see how they do it."
The project "Serve Your Country; Make A Quilt" was sponsored by Fort Detrick, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and Sisto's Sewing and Quilting Studio in Frederick, which provided the classroom space.
