The queen had always shown regard for the care of her wounded soldiers, and took personal interest in the hospital arrangements at home. In April she visited St. Mary's Hospital at Chatham, where four hundred invalids were drawn up in the barrack square to receive her. After passing through the suffering numbers, cheering them with kind smiles and comforting words, the queen and prince entered the hospital, where those who were not well enough to be in the open air were assembled. Some of the poor fellows were frightfully crippled and disfigured; but all felt flattered by their sovereign's interest in them, and many displayed, with honest pride, the medals and other marks of honor that they had won on the battlefield. Two days later her majesty visited Aldershot, where a camp had been established. On a richly caparisoned chestnut horse she rode forward to inspect the troops. They were drawn up in two lines, fourteen thousand in number, and reached out a mile and a half in length. Bayonets flashed in the sunlight as the men presented arms, and the bands of the different regiments burst forth in strains of welcome as their sovereign advanced. Having reached an elevated piece of ground, her majesty, surrounded {427}by a brilliant suite, witnessed the movements of the soldiers as they marched past her in a line. A grand field-day followed, when the queen appeared again on horseback, wearing the uniform of a field-marshal with the star and ribbon of the Garter, and a dark blue riding-skin. The sight was more splendid than before; the troops had mustered eighteen thousand strong this time, and their manoeuvres under the command of General Knollys excited great admiration. During the same month there was a review of the fleet at Spithead. The royal yacht steamed out of the harbor followed by private vessels, all decked with flags and crowded with spectators, and, as they passed through the double line of men-of-war, a royal salute was fired; and this, added to the cheering of the men, produced a most exciting scene. The fleet performed various evolutions afterwards, and then had a mimic battle, which concluded the proceedings. Several more reviews, both of the navy and army, took place this year, and her majesty laid the corner-stone of a large military hospital which she had ordered to be built near Nettey. "It is to bear my name," she wrote, "and is to be one of the finest in Europe. Loving the brave army as I do, and having seen so many of my poor sick and wounded soldiers, I shall watch over the work with maternal anxiety."