Reminiscences of an army nurse during the Civil War

by Adelaide W. Smith

When, later, I went to Albany for an interview with Governor Fenton, I was entertained by his family; but John was not at home, and I have never seen him since.

During this period of the great Rebellion the most terrible battles of any recorded in modern history, were fought. After one of them, during which the same ground had been fought over repeatedly, now with success on the Southern side, now on the Northern, a flag of truce was sent in from the Confederate Army, asking for a cessation of hostilities that its soldiers might be allowed to bury their dead. The following poem, written by Amanda T. Jones, author of “A Psychic Autobiography,” commemorates the heart-breaking incident. It will be found among her collected works entitled “Poems: 1854-1906.”

A REBEL FLAG OF TRUCE

Let us bury our dead:

Since we may not of vantage or victory prate;

And our army, so grand in onslaught of late,

All crippled has shrunk to its trenches instead—

For the carnage was great:

Let us bury our dead.

Let us bury our dead.