84 Ten Years of my Life. 



tents, serving either as bureaus or as quarters for officers. At 

 a beautiful place from which th"e camp could be overlooked, 

 Salm had built quite a stately building. It was about thirty 

 feet long, stood somewhat above the ground on poles, like a 

 sanitary barrack, had in front a verandah, and contained three 

 compartments. The largest was our saloon, and to its right 

 and left were two smaller apartments, one serving as a bed- 

 room for me and Salm, and the other for Madame von Corvin. 

 The saloon had in front a glass door and two windows, and 

 contained also a fireplace of rather primitive construction, for 

 when it rained hard the fire was frequently extinguished by it. 



The building had scarcely been finished when we arrived, 

 and the weather having been very bad during its construction, 

 it was still extremely damp. Behind our palace was built a 

 kitchen, and near to it was put up a large tent, which served 

 as an officers' mess-room. Farther back amongst the trees 

 were some buildings for the commissariat, and a barrack serv- 

 ing as an hospital. 



To visit this hospital was one of the first things I did. I 

 found it in a very miserable state, for the doctor whom my 

 husband found on his recent arrival with his regiment, was a 

 rather careless man, and thought more of his own comfort and 

 profit than of that of his patients. The steward and nurses 

 were not better, and it was found that ihey frequently appro-, 

 priated the good things furnished for the sick. These were, 

 of course, not wanting in a locality such as described, most of 

 them suffering from ague or malignant fevers. I was indignant 

 at this state of affaiis, and at once took care to remedy it. 

 The next thing to be done was to procure warm clothes, blan- 

 kets, &c., and also wholesome food for the patients, of whom 

 I had those who needed it most transferred to the larger hos- 

 pital in Bridgeport. In that place I found agents of the Chris- 

 tian Commission, and on applying to them I was at once 

 provided with a good supply of clothes and eatables, which 

 were the more valuable as the provisions for the soldiers had 

 at that time run very short. The war had exhausted the coun- 

 try ; cattle were extremely rare, and fresh meat was not to be 

 had at all The soldiers had to be satisfied with salt, pork and 

 hard tack, for bread was not to be had either. The officers , 

 were not much better off, for in the commencement the inhabi- ^ 

 tants of the country were very shy, and did not like to come' 



