For hours the
fight went on. We awaited the result in painful suspense. At last the
ambulances came in, bringing some of the surgeons and some wounded
men, returning immediately for others. At the same time the hospital
steward with his attendants and several of our nurses arrived, also
the linen-master, the chief cook, and the baker. With them came orders
to prepare wards for a large number of wounded, both Confederate _and
Federal_. Presently a cloud of dust appeared up the road, and a detail
of Confederate cavalry rode into town, bringing eight hundred Federal
prisoners, who were consigned to a large cotton warehouse, situated
almost midway between the hospital and the railroad depot.
My terrible anxiety, suspense, and heavy responsibility was now at an
end, but days and nights of nursing lay before all who were connected
with either the Buckner or Bragg Hospitals. Additional buildings were
at once seized and converted into wards for the reception of the
wounded of both armies. The hospital attendants, though weary, hungry,
and some of them terribly dirty from the combined effect of
perspiration, dust, and gunpowder, at once resumed their duties.
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