In the afternoon the gunboats stopped firing, and the news came that the Confederates were driven back.
Oh, how much that meant to us all; for through all that morning the boats had their full head of steam on, so that if the army was driven to the river, as many as possible could escape by that means.
Now and then I would help a surgeon who was dressing some of the worst wounds. My clothing was wet and muddy to the knees, and covered with blood, but I did not see it. I had not eaten a mouthful of food since the night before, but I did not know it. I was entirely unconscious of weariness and human needs.
It was about ten o’clock at night when some one asked,—
“Did you have supper?” This little question called me to the consciousness of my condition.
“No,” I answered; “I have not had a mouthful to eat since yesterday evening.”
A surgeon operating near by looked at me earnestly, and then said, with the voice of authority,—
“Madam, stop work immediately. We will have you on our hands next.”
I was cutting a fragment of a blue blouse away from the arm of a wounded young soldier. I continued my work till the bits of the blouse were gotten out, as far as I could see, then laid on a wet compress.
“Oh! thank you,” he said, with grateful tears in his eyes.