TRANSPORTATION HOME
The war was over, and government passes and government roads were of
the past, only regular army transportation was now allowed, except
to the Medical Department for the purpose of sending home delayed
patients. My “Grant Pass,” that had made me so independent, became
at once only a relic. Therefore, being entitled to transportation
to my home, I went to Surgeon General Barnes, U. S. A., to receive
that privilege. After a pleasant conversation with the General, he
remarked, “Your name is not on the pay roll, and you are entitled to
pay for army service. If you will make out your claim I will endorse
it.”
To this I replied,--with more sentiment, as I now see it, than
judgment,--“General, I thank you, but I do not wish pay for my
services in hospital work. If I had been a man I would have enlisted
as a soldier. But being only a woman it was all I could do, and I
wish to give that service to my country.”
Often, since then, I have thought of the quizzical expression of the
General’s eyes, though he said not a word about an impractical girl
who did not think far enough to see what good she might have done
with that accumulated wage of several years.
At that time, however, I was receiving (during several months) sixty
dollars per month as New York State Agent,--the only pay I ever
received. But that seemed different. The war was over.
The General then asked how far I wanted transportation. I replied
that I lived in Brooklyn, but would take transportation as far as
he would give it. But as I used it only to my home I still have the
following form of transportation:
“Boston & Maine R. R.
This Order not Transferable.
D. No. 51978
Oct. 20, 1865.
Transport Miss Ada W. Smith
From Boston, Mass., to Portland, Me. En Route from
Washington to Augusta, Me. Signature of officer issuing the
order,
IRA G. PAYNE,
Capt. A. Q. M.
By order of the Quarter Master General,
LEWIS B. PARSONS,
Col. & Chief of Rail and River Transportation.”
Resting only a few days after my return to my home, I was urged by
friends on the Sanitary Commission to assist, with another, a lady of
remarkable ability, a Miss Baldwin, in dispensing some surplus funds
for the Sanitary Commission, with Headquarters in New York City. This
surplus could not, according to their organization, be used for other
purposes than for the benefit of soldiers. After much discussion it
seemed that the soldiers’ families should be the natural recipients.
So during most of that unusually severe winter, 1865-6, I went daily
from my home in Brooklyn to New York, and with my companion found
many families in need of help, who might otherwise have perished
with cold. When spring brought relief, the last dollar of that grand
life-saving organization was expended.
[Illustration: ADELAIDE W. SMITH, 1867]
This was, of course, before the day of pensions. We continued this
work until the funds were exhausted. Then I retired finally from
the engrossing activity of hospital life and caring for soldiers’
families, in which I was engaged from 1862 through 1866.
I had been very happy in this ministration that daily brought its
reward in the gratitude and appreciation of my “Boys in Blue,” and
in the thought that I had done at least what I could in that fearful
struggle to save our Union and glorious country.
No one really desires to grow old, but I would not have missed that
call for every heart and hand to respond to its duty, even to be
young again.
And the star spangled banner
In triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave.
Francis Scott Key.
[Illustration:
Adjutant, Commander, Quartermaster,
WM. J. HARDING. E. A. CRUIKSHANK. HENRY A. COZZENS.
Headquarters U. S. Grant Post No. 327
Department of New York. Grand Army of the Republic.
489 WASHINGTON AVENUE.
Telephone:
Prospect 546. Brooklyn, July 15th, 1909.
MISS ADELAIDE W. SMITH gave her lecture, “HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE
DURING THE WAR,” before the U. S. Grant Post of Brooklyn, on
Tuesday evening, March 9th last, under the auspices of the
Entertainment Committee. A large audience was present to greet
Miss Smith. The subject, itself one of absorbing interest, was
skilfully presented by the lecturer and was received with
marked attention and interest.
I take very great pleasure in commending Miss Smith’s lecture
to the G. A. R. Posts of New York and vicinity also to Church
Societies, Clubs, Schools, and other organizations that go to
make up the social and intellectual life of a community. Miss
Smith’s services to our sick and wounded soldiers from 1861 to
1865 entitle her to the generous recognition of our comrades,
and the men and women of America.
(Signed) ANDREW JACOBS,
_Chairman Entertainment Committee_,
U. S. GRANT POST,
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.]
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Transcriber’s Note:
Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent
hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged, as were
jargon, dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings. Four misspelled
words were corrected. Extended ellipses within quoted text were left
intact.
Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the
end of the chapter. Punctuation at ends of quotations and sentences
was standardized.