The boys in white : $b The experience of a hospital agent in and around WashingtonWheelock, Julia S. (Julia Susan)
History
The boys in white : $b The experience of a hospital agent in and around Washington
Wheelock, Julia S. (Julia Susan)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals
This regiment, unlike many, was blessed with a kind and faithful
surgeon, and a chaplain worthy of the name. My next visit was to the
Fifth and Sixth Cavalry; but there was far less sickness in these
regiments than when I visited them at Fairfax, notwithstanding their
increased hardships and exposures, their frequent raids, skirmishes,
and battles. But many, for whom this toughening process was too severe,
had fallen out by the way, and were left to sleep in unmarked yet
honored graves. At the little broken, dilapidated town of Stevensburg,
where fences and “hoops” were unknown, and sallow faces gave evidence
of the “dip”--where chimneys were leaning from perpendicular as if
contemplating a change of base, and where windows could boast of
more rags than panes of glass--was our Cavalry Brigade Hospital; but
it contained comparatively few sick. Good nursing and proper food, no
doubt, would have saved any who were in the hospital at that time. The
beds were much better than those in infantry hospitals. Each cot was
furnished with a tick filled with hay, which was obtained by cutting
the horses’ rations a little short; but, in other respects, they were
about on a par with field hospitals generally. Here I disposed of the
remainder of my goods, and, on the morning of the 17th, left the sick,
with a promise to come again soon, with a larger supply of sanitary
stores. Arriving at Brandy Station, I found the train had left, and,
not knowing what to do, I appealed to the Provost Marshal, from whom,
to my great relief, I learned that Mrs. Mayhew--an agent for the Maine
Association--had her head-quarters in an old building not far away.
The house was pointed out, and, in a few minutes more, I was the
welcome guest of this excellent lady and her friend, Mrs. Painter, of
New Jersey. It being the Lord’s day, we attended service at the C. C.
chapel. That was a day long to be remembered. How solemn the service!
And what a good class--or speaking-meeting--followed! What a beautiful
sight to see those brawny, stalwart soldiers stand up for Jesus! Early
Monday morning I assisted in feeding a train of sick who were on
their way from Culpepper to Washington. These ladies held themselves
in readiness to start with broth, crackers, tea and coffee, as soon as
a train of the sick or wounded arrived. Who can estimate the good thus
accomplished by those two earnest, Christian women?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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