CHAPTER XX.

Permission to Visit the Camps-We Arrive at Yorktown-The Nurses are warmly welcomed-Romantic Quarters in the old Mansion-The Peninsula-The Head-quarters of Lord Cornwallis Coast Epidemics - Heroes of the Tents, and their Guardian Angels-We proceed to Business-Gen. D. H. Hill -Yorktown-The Soldier's Funeral-A rebellious British Subject-An Alarm-The First great Battle.

So the trip to Yorktown was settled, and the pass obtained. It ran thus:

"Miss Sarah Jones has permission to leave Richmond in order to visit the camps at Yorktown; promising on her honour as a man not to communicate, either by word or writing, anything that may contribute to the endangering of the Confede rate States, or to the aid and comfort of the enemy.

(Signed)

By order of the Governor.

MARMADUKE JOHNSON,
Aid to the Governor.

Given this day, Friday, 12th July, 1861.

City of Richmond, Virginia."

Excepting the names and dates, the order was printed; and the "man" not having been erased or altered, I declared to my two friends that I felt quite at liberty to write, or to say just as much as I chose to do.

We passed encampments here and there all along the road; which was by rail to West Point, a village consisting of a few houses on the bank of the York River, at that time being fortified with breastworks. It was amusing to see the soldiers chasing each other to the cars on the approach of the train; and to see the scrambles that occurred over the showers of newspapers that were thrown out to them. In passing through New Kent County, the "old Custis House" was pointed out to me. This was where Washington had "first seen his wife," a Miss Custis; and not far off, near the Pamunky River, was the house where the great American hero had been married. It was at that time an estate of 7000 acres; now, or rather it was when we passed it, in the possession of Colonel Lee, one of the sons of the Confederate General Lee; the estate comprising about 4000 acres.

From West Point we proceeded by steamboat to Yorktown. Oh, how refreshing after the intolerable heat, and distracting bustle of a city hotel, to be again in a pure atmosphere on blue waters! So many fishing-boats, and such a calm prevailed on the river, that again war seemed only a dream; but we soon witnessed the realities of it.

Such a rushing of soldiers as there was to the boat, on our arrival at Yorktown! such confusion and scrambling! In spite of Southern politeness, we were in serious risk of being crushed in the crowd; but my companion took everything in a quiet philosophical

WE ARRIVE AT YORKTOWN.

401

spirit, and one could not dream of annoyance. Just one business occupied her mind; she had prepared herself for discomforts and disagreeables; and had already overcome them in anticipation.

Having quite a number not only of acquaintances but relatives, in the North Carolina companies then stationed at Yorktown, Miss Gibbon was in no want of friendly assistance. Her arrival was anticipated, and, "for the present," rooms at the hospital into which the old head-quarters of Cornwallis had been converted, were prepared for her. General D. H. Hill was her personal friend, also Colonel Lee (of another family of Lees), and many other officers. Colonel Hill was made a Brigadier-General of the Confederate army after the battle of Bethel. Previously he had been a "General" in some former military engagements, and thus recognized in his own State of North Carolina. These gentlemen soon came to pay their respects, and promised to make every arrangement for her comfort; but she ignored self entirely, and cared only to fulfil her mission.

And the first glance sufficed to tell us how much she was needed. As we ascended to our temporary lodging, we passed through the halls opening into several rooms on each side, all crowded with invalid soldiers. Some were lying on the floor, others on camp bedsteads, with no sort of order or arrangement, no attempt at cleanliness or comfort. "Oh!" she exclaimed, immediately, "how much there is to be done!" We soon discovered that the doctors had 2 D

VOL. I.

rather a dread of female interference; and we also discovered the reason. A number of ladies had formed themselves into societies for the nursing and relief of their “sick soldier" relatives. Several had obtained permission to visit the armies; and in their inexperience and at the same time anxiety for the invalids, had not displayed much discretion in their care and remedies; so that the poor doctors were for ever beset with applications to take unadvisable measures for their patients, or, in refusing, to bear the unwelcome responsibility of a prolonged illness or even death in consequence of improper treatment; for the aunts, sisters, and mothers would sometimes persist in their own remedies in defiance of law or order. All this may be attributed to the peculiar character of the war, and those who fought it. An army of "sovereigns," the husbands, sons, and brothers of those unused to be controlled, but on the contrary educated to control others.

Already the deaths from diseases were frightfully numerous. Each State was then hastening to send its own doctors, nurses, and provisions to their representative regiments. This again gave rise to other perplexities. Immense cases of provisions arrived more rapidly than regulations could be made for the disposal of them. Hence arose unimaginable confusion at all the railroad depôts. Only those of my readers who are cognizant of the difficulties of meeting the wants of an army, however well trained and disciplined, even in a country abounding in the

THE NURSES ARE WARMLY WELCOMED 403

means of transportation, can comprehend the delays and hindrances of communicating a thousand miles off in a country of few railroads, and slow progress; where every arrangement was new, and every convenience scarce.

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Miss Gibbon on her part had resolved to be subject to army discipline, and to obey orders. She had prepared herself for her task by a careful perusal of the works of Miss Florence Nightingale; and by quiet suggestions, and unobtrusive method, soon made her presence felt and appreciated. Ah! how happy some of those poor fellows were to offer their fevered hand and greet the familiar face from their far distant home! "I shan't try to get well, now you're come to nurse me," said one. "Ah, Miss Catherine, it looks like home to see you here!" said another: and a third, "Here have I been lying on the floor these three weeks; how I wish I had a mattrass, or something soft to lie upon!" We saw the soldiers at rest, or on the bed (no floor) of sickness who had lately won for themselves such fame at the battle of Bethel. The doctors informed us that many of the men were at that time prostrate with camp measles, but as soon as the rumours of an engagement reached them, some had leaped from their beds in direct opposition to his commands. Chains alone could have stayed them in their eagerness for “a fing at the Yankees." "No doctor could keep me back," said a boy of about seventeen, who was listening to the conversation, and who had been ever since