"Our lunch, where the officers presided as hosts and waiters, consisted of ham sandwiches, pickles, jelly, ale, and tea. The three officers were our escorts to our quarters, which we found to be in the old Virginia manor Milton, owned and still inhabited by the well-known family of ----. "They did not smile upon us at first, but we made a great effort to propitiate the two sad-looking Virginia ladies who received us. They both were in mourning for the son of one of them, who was killed during the Peninsula campaign--a rebel. Poor, poor fellow! We felt so much for these proud women, obliged to receive Northern strangers, and unable to conceal their fallen fortunes, that we did our best to heal their wounded self-love. After tea we dressed for the ball. I wore the blue tissue, the white lace waist, and a blue ribbon only in my hair.... Our three escorts arrived long before we were ready, but at last we were put again into our ambulance. Just fancy the strangeness of going to a ball in an ambulance, and the ball-room itself, indeed, was as odd a mingling of contrasts. It was an immense boarded room, with a pointed roof from which hung many flags and banners, most ragged and full of bullet-holes, some in ribbons; guns were stacked against the building, and these were draped with evergreens; on either side of the platform used by the band rested cannons pointed towards us; these were almost concealed by banners again. From this end of the room came excellent music all the evening.