IT stood in the midst of the historic battle-field and surrounding
encampment. Prior to the war, it was known as The Corona Female College.
It was a large, three-story structure of brick, with portico in front
supported by massive pillars, and never was hospital more conveniently
located with reference to battle-field. To me it was the Castle
Beautiful, and even now, as I attempt to write of it, the memories of
that time come thronging and surging through my brain, with such
forceful rapidity, each clamoring for utterance, that I scarce know how
to take up the tangled threads of warp and woof, and weave them into a
smooth and readable story. The building was also known by the names of
General Hospital and Seminary Hospital.
With the happy freedom of childhood I roamed about at my own sweet will,
and I have given the “cup of cold water” to more than one poor sick or
wounded soldier, as he lay on his bed of pain. There was one in
particular, whose room was opposite our own: the door was mostly open,
and he would frequently call to me to come and talk to him or hand him a
drink of water. The first day we were in the building, I made the rounds
of our ward on the second floor, with a lady nurse, Mrs. Penfield. I
afterward called down her wrath upon my head by asking her if she had a
field full of pens. One scene of that day’s visit arises vividly before
me now, and I can draw a pen picture of the white-faced soldier I saw,
propped up in bed with the nurse combing his hair, and bathing his face
and hands.
I became familiar with scenes of sadness and suffering, with the sight
of pale faces, crutches and armless sleeves, and, ever and anon a stiff
form wrapped in a blanket would be carried to the dead house, thence to
a soldier’s grave.
The hospital continued crowded, and we occupied the room with the
officers several weeks. They were Captain Hensler, of Peoria. Ill.;
Captain Armstrong, Lieut. Watt and several others whose names I can not
recall. My mother cooked by a large, open fireplace, and shared all she
had with these sick men. There was plenty of raw material, but it was so
poorly prepared by the negroes about the place that the men could not
eat it with any relish. A colored woman, who had been a slave, brought
provisions to our room each morning, and her one theme was, “It’s mighty
good.” Captain Hensler convalesced rapidly, and with tears in his eyes,
he told my mother he owed it all to the nourishing food she prepared for
him.
Lieut. Watt and I became great chums. While in this room I wrote a
letter to my teacher at home, which he addressed for me, and upon
learning that the teacher was a young lady, he laughingly asked me if I
thought there would be any chance for him. This letter was read to the
school, and for a few days I was quite famous in my native town.
My baby sister and I soon became great favorites in camp and hospital.
On the night of our arrival the baby cried, and the word went around
from room to room: “There’s a baby in the house. Where did it come from?
Bring it in.” And in due time she was taken into the rooms where there
were no contagious diseases. The men were much cheered by her presence,
and one of the doctors said it was “quite a treat to hear a baby cry.”
Dr. Robins, the surgeon in charge of our ward, would carry her about the
room at each visit he made, sometimes taking her down stairs into the
hall and out into the grounds about the building, I following wherever
he went. The doctor called her his “little rosebud.” One day she
scratched his face until the blood came, and he bore the marks several
days. I can see him now, a slight, fair-haired young fellow, and,
strange as it may seem, after the lapse of all these years, I can hear
the very sound of his voice, as, upon entering the room, he would throw
back his head and laughingly call out “Where is my Little Rosebud?” He
told us of the friends he left at home, but alas! for them, he died the
following summer of smallpox, in Memphis, Tennessee.