"Probably; but it happened to be the very best movement he could have made for us," said the officer, with a smile. There was much suffering in the hospitals on the Peninsula. The medical department was not well organized, but the delegates of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions were present, and saved the lives of many men. They saw a soldier in a tent one day who was fast passing away. He had fought his last battle with the enemy of his country. He was a noble man, but he was worn out by disease. He had worked in the slimy swamps, on the fortifications, and was covered with filth. He had lost all his strength, and was so weak that he could not raise his hand to his head. They washed him, changed his clothing, lifted him from the damp ground and placed him on a cot, gave him nourishing food, talked to him of home, of mother, of Jesus, his best friend, of a better world. The soldier tried to thank them, but was too weak to articulate the words. He could only take the chaplain's hand, press it to his cheek, and bathe it with tears of gratitude. Thus the friends at home, by their Christian sympathy and charity, sustained and comforted the brave defenders of their country, in their last hours. CHAPTER VI. ON THE CHICKAHOMINY. On the 16th of May the whole army, with the exception of Hooker's division, which remained at Williamsburg, was at the White House on the Pamunkey, where a permanent depot was established. The cavalry under General Stoneman, and the infantry pickets, were on the banks of the Chickahominy. General McClellan called for reinforcements. In response, the President informed him, on the 18th, that General McDowell had been ordered to march from Fredericksburg to join him by the shortest route, but was also ordered to keep himself in position to cover Washington, and General McClellan was instructed to open communication with him. "This order," says General McClellan, "rendered it impossible for me to use the James River as a line of operations, and forced me to establish our depots on the Pamunkey, and to approach Richmond from the north. It frustrated the plan of the campaign." It will be for the future historian to determine whether the order to General McDowell to move overland compelled General McClellan to take the Chickahominy route, and frustrated the plan of the campaign, or whether, on the other hand, he had not chosen the route, by moving from Williamsburg on the 10th, and establishing his head-quarters and depots at White House, and throwing out his cavalry and pickets to Bottom's Bridge on the Chickahominy on the 16th, two days before the orders were issued. The Chickahominy River runs north of Richmond, flows southeast, and becomes an affluent of the James above Williamsburg. It is fringed with forests and bordered by marshy lands, which at high water become impassable swamps, but at low water the stream is fordable in many places. The Rebels destroyed all the bridges as they retreated to Richmond.