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through the camp ground, we halted on a beautiful lawn for the night.
The troops had here provided for us a bountiful collation of hot coffee, hard tack, and fresh beef.
Of course the men were ravenous, and, their stomachs being very weak, it proved to be a fatal meal to many of them.
The next morning we walked to Wilmington, and in the evening went on board a transport steamer, bound for Annapolis, Md. We were three days in going, in a severe storm, and I had a raging fever.
Arriving at the wharf, I was carried on a stretcher to the Naval School Hospital, and for three days I did not open my eyes.
The surgeon told me that the only medicine he could give me for several days was a little cordial on a sponge pressed to my teeth; he gave up all hope of my recovery, but a kind Providence ruled otherwise.
Having good care, I recovered.
When I was able to walk they showed me a box they had expected to put me in. I was here about a month.
As soon as the sick were able to be moved, they were sent to hospitals in other cities, this being the nearest landing to rebeldom.
I was next sent to Camden Street Hospital in Baltimore, and here I suffered terribly with my frozen feet.
I was here nearly a month, and most of that time I could not bear even the weight of a sheet on them.
The surgeon tried every cure he could think of, but I got no relief, until finally I tried the cold water cure.
It was a great risk, but in a short time it cured them.
There were about 500 men in this hospital.
As soon as I was able to walk, I received a twenty-days' furlough to go home.
When I arrived in Somerville my father did not know me. I had been mourned for dead, having been reported so at the State House three times.
My furlough having expired, I reported back to the hospital.
Feeling pretty well, I was anxious to join my regiment, but the surgeon would not let me go. Being anxious to do something, I was appointed chief of the culinary department.
On May 18, 1865, I was discharged from the hospital, and, with my back pay, my discharge papers, and a new
Somerville. Historical Society. , 1910.
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