From that moment
I was eagerly welcomed by him whenever I appeared among the sick.
When he began to mend and was allowed to talk freely, I learned his
name, Charley Percy, that he was a native of Bayou Sara, Louisiana,
and a member of the fifth company of Washington Artillery, Captain
Slocomb commanding. He had been wounded at Resaca. I grew to love him
dearly. As soon as he was permitted to leave his bed he became averse
to remaining in the ward, and most of his waking hours were spent in
the little room which was specially allotted to me. Whenever I
returned after my rounds among the sick it was a certainty that the
glad, bright presence awaited me, and that many little plans for my
rest and comfort would make the rough place homelike.
He became to me like a dear young brother, devoted and
ever-thoughtful. The matron's room at the hospital was called very
often "Soldiers' Rest," and sometimes "The Promised Land," because
many soldiers came there every day, and those newly convalescent made
it a goal which they aspired to reach as soon as permitted.
This habit gave me an opportunity to use properly what might have been
sent in boxes which arrived frequently from different quarters, filled
with a variety of goodies, but in quantities entirely insufficient to
supply all the soldiers.
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