CHAPTER XIV. AMONG THE SICK AND WOUNDED. "He jests at scars that never felt a wound." SHAKESPEARE. "The drying up a single tear has more BYRON. OLUMBIA College, a large building four stories high, situated on a lofty elevation in the environs of Washington, was converted into a general hospital during the first summer of the war. When the regiment to which I belonged was ordered south of the Potomac, the more severe cases under treatment at the regimental hospital were sent to Columbia College. I was among the number hither brought. My inability to cross into Virginia with my comrades was the heaviest blow my pride had ever sustained; and when carried from the ambulance into the roomy loggia of the hospital, I was helpless in body and dejected in mind. The female voice never sounded more welcome than when I heard a nurse exclaim in a soft, kindly tone-" He is mine; bring him this way." I was carefully helped—leaning upon the shoulders of two attendants-along the corridor, to my room, where a comfortable iron bed stood ready to receive me; Mrs. R- the nurse in charge of my ward, overlooking the male attendant, and treating me most tenderly. My gun, accoutrements, knapsack, etc., had been sent with me. These, together with my clothing, were inventoried, sent to the ward-master (who gave a receipt for them), and stored away in an outbuilding until required. The nurse took charge of my money, jewellery, and trinkets. In the evening the doctor made his rounds, and prescribed medicine and diet. During several days I improved, and then grew worse rapidly; and a protracted illness followed. There were five beds in my room; and it is somewhat singular that the patient who occupied the one opposite mine was, like myself, a Wisconsin soldier, and a "Jones." The other Jones gained strength more rapidly than I, and soon walked out to a convalescent ward, towards the top of the house. The occupants of all the other beds were carried out, feet first. Typhoid fever was the prevailing disease; and "Turpentine Mixture" is still fresh in my memory's taste. I have a dreamlike recollection of the turning point of my illness. My arms and legs were bandaged in mustard, diluted brandy was administered to me every half-hour; but about midnight I commenced to talk to my attendant. I had begun to rally. Each flat of the building was divided into two wards, of about thirty beds each. Two soldier attendants and female nurse took care of the patients in a ward, under the charge of one surgeon for each flat. The nurses were in most cases patriotic ladies from the North, anxious to contribute their share towards the salvation of the Union by nursing and restoring "the boys in blue" to health; and thousands of sick and wounded soldiers were saved to friends and country through the continued watchfulness and tender nursing of these noble women. The most dangerous cases received the greatest attention; and whatever the soldier fancied was somehow procured for him. I presume each nurse had her favorite patients at different times. These were generally intelligent young men of delicate organisation who had run rather close to the grave. As I lay on my bed one hot day, in the month of August, a delirious patient, from an adjoining apartment, rushed past me towards the open window at the other end of my room. He was closely followed by Mrs. R, but he reached. the window and escaped, jumping at least twelve feet to clear the walkway of the basement story, and running at great speed across the hospital ground; he was upon the fence of the main road-Fourteenth Street-when caught by some convalescent soldiers who were strolling about in that direction. He was carried back to bed and safely fastened there. Within a few days the delirium left him; and, with youth and a good constitution on his side, he soon recovered. He was a private of a Maine regiment; a college man, and a lawyer by profession. Clever and amiable, he was a favorite. Most of the typhoid fever patients became delirious during their illness; but I noticed that those who seemed to pick something off their blankets never got well. Traces of the malady lingered upon the minds of some men, even when able to walk about. A cavalry sergeant named French-a farmer from Pennsylvania-talked much of the excellence of his orchard and apples while the fever raged. During the convalescent stage, our nurse brought him on a visit to my bedside one day. He offered me half a barrel of apples-Rhode Island Greenings-which he daily expected from home, according to orders. The apples never came; and several weeks elapsed before his mind threw off the apple delusion. Upon all other points he was quite logical and sane. We had three stewards in the hospital-members of the regular army-who were prone to sneer at volunteer surgeons. The stewards were half rebels, who acted as if they were conferring a great favor upon the Union by remaining in the service. A recovering patient, feeling his strength returning, came down from the first-floor ward rather hurriedly one day, when a pugnacious little steward-Wright by name-rushed at him in the most ill-tempered manner, and said: "Private -, you must not run up and down these stairs; if you do it again I'll have you tied to a tree (a punishment sometimes inflicted in the army) as soon as you are strong enough for it." The soldier, turning upon this bully, said: "Don't you ever say must to me again; and as for you tying me to a tree, sir, try it on! and I'll make the daylight shine through you!" That volunteer was not tied to a tree by the steward. Wranglings between assistant-surgeons and stewards were by no means rare at our general hospital; and high words between Dr. K and the steward referred to, going on in the corridor opposite the office door, attracted my attention upon one occasion. The diet for the patients had not been furnished according to the surgeon's directions. The attendant, a New York soldier, assured his superior officer that his orders had been correctly delivered at the kitchen. Steward W, on the other hand, maintained that the diet called for had been furnished. "Why," said he, "George (the black cook) has just told me so, and that ought to settle the matter." "Well, hang your impudence!" returned the soldier. "I left home a few months ago to assist in bettering the condition of the Blacks, and already I find the word of one, who but a few weeks ago was a slave, accepted in preference to my own. I guess it's about time for me to trot off home!" The medical officer smiled at the forcible |