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[From the Springfield Journal.]

No one who has not visited the hospitals appropriated to the sick and wounded at Mound City, has an adequate idea of the amount of misery and suffering which the war has brought upon the brave men of Illinois, who have been so gallantly fighting the battles of the Union. Those who have so recently returned form a visit to them describe the scenes as enough to excite the sympathies of all; and, we are sure, an appeal in behalf of our maimed and languishing soldiers now confined in those hospitals has only to be made to be answered promptly and generously by our open-hearted people. That assistance is needed in their behalf, is evident from the following letter which has been handed us for publication.

GENERAL HOSPITAL,

MOUND CITY, March 13th, 1862.

MRS. JESSE K. DUBOIS —

My Dear Madam: You will pardon my long delay in answering your last favor, when I tell you that after the great labor we underwent when twelve hundred sick and wounded were brought here from Fort Donelson, I had a severe attack of sickness from which I am only recovering. The pillows and cushions for the wounded we find of the greatest service, but from what we received and what we made, I think we have enough. In this way the mistake might have arisen about their utility. We need shirts and drawers — at least eight hundred from the late battle (northerners and southerners) came with their clothes out to pieces.

For two weeks, until to-day, we had about a thousand patients; to-day we received about fifty more, very sick, from the Cumberland river. They described their sufferings as having been extreme since the late battle. Now, my dear madam, what is absolutely needed to keep those poor crippled and wounded soldiers alive, is more nourishing food than Government supplies. They need some wine, ale, chickens, oysters, apples, &c., to raise them. If the ladies think this extravagant, I am sure they will change their minds when they reflect on the hundreds of brave soldiers who won our late victories here, with the life blood oozing from their wounds; and reflect on the many more who will be brought in the same state from the fields of battle yet to be won before an end comes to this unnatural contest.

Arrangements have been made here for eighteen hundred patients.

Could you send three stout washerwomen from Springfield, they would receive good wages in the hospital.

I thank God your brave son has been spared. May he long continue so, is the prayer of your friend.

S. MARY ANGELA.

Sister Mary Angela, of the Catholic Sisterhood of Charity, it may not be generally known is the chief female nurse or matron in charge of the Mound City Hospital. As may be well understood from her letter of appeal, she is a most devoted and noble hearted woman, and in the holy mission of watching over the sick, relieving the anguish of the suffering, healing the wounds of the maimed, and closing the eyes of the dying, she is indeed a ministering angel.

It will be seen from her letter that the Hospital is in pressing need of shirts and drawers; and "more nourishing food than Government supplies," — such as wine, ale, chickens, oysters, apples, jellies, and such other delicacies for the sick.

We understand that the "Soldiers' Aid Society" of this city has already taken the matter in hand, and will, to the extent of its ability and means, supply these necessaries; but for the relief of so many hundreds as are to be provided, of course it will not be able to do all that is asked; and we extend the appeal to other neighboring towns and societies, satisfied that they will contribute with equal alacrity towards so holy and worthy an object. We are requested to state that all packages addressed to "Sister Mary Angels, General Hospital, Mound City, Illinois," will duly reach their destination, and be properly applied.