“She is performing a noble work, and that too in the most quiet and unassuming manner.”
From Cairo I went to Washington, where I spent several weeks, until I recovered from my fever and was able to endure the fatigue of traveling. Then after visiting the hospitals once more, and bidding farewell to old scenes and associations, I returned to my friends to recruit my shattered health.
CHAPTER XXIX.
REVIEW OF HOSPITAL AND CAMP LIFE—QUESTIONS ANSWERED—BEHIND THE SCENES—BLESSED EMPLOYMENT—LIVING PAST SCENES OVER AGAIN—MY MOST IMPORTANT LABORS—MOTHER AND SON—STRANGE POWER OF SYMPATHY—HERO’S REPOSE—OFFICERS AND MEN—THE BRAVEST ARE KINDEST—GENERAL SEDGWICK—BATTLE SCENES—MR. ALVORD’S DESCRIPTION—VOLUNTEER SURGEONS—HEART SICKENING SIGHTS—AN AWFUL PICTURE—FEMALE NURSES—SENTIMENTAL—PATRIOTIC—MEDICAL DEPARTMENT—YOUNG SURGEONS—ANECDOTES.
Since I returned to New England there have been numerous questions asked me with regard to hospitals, camp life, etc., which have not been fully answered in the preceding narrative, and I have thought that perhaps it would not be out of place to devote a chapter to that particular object.
One great question is: “Do the soldiers get the clothing and delicacies which we send them—or is it true that the surgeons, officers and nurses appropriate them to their own use?”
In reply to this question I dare not assert that all the things which are sent to the soldiers are faithfully distributed, and reach the individuals for whom they were intended. But I have no hesitation in saying that I have reason to believe that the cases are very rare where surgeons or nurses tamper with those articles sent for the comfort of the sick and wounded.
If the ladies of the Soldiers’ Aid Societies and other benevolent organizations could have seen even the quantity which I have seen with my own eyes distributed, and the smile of gratitude with which those supplies are welcomed by the sufferers, they would think that they were amply rewarded for all their labor in preparing them.
Just let those benevolent hearted ladies imagine themselves in my place for a single day; removing blood-clotted and stiffened woollen garments from ghastly wounds, and after applying the sponge and water remedy, replacing those coarse, rough shirts by nice, cool, clean linen ones, then dress the wounds with those soft white bandages and lint; take from the express box sheet after sheet, and dainty little pillows with their snowy cases, until you have the entire hospital supplied and every cot looking clean and inviting to the weary, wounded men—then as they are carried and laid upon those comfortable beds, you will often see the tears of gratitude gush forth, and hear the earnest “God bless the benevolent ladies who send us these comforts.”