Besides, the presence of a lady had become embarrassing to
the surgeons in charge of hospitals, who, while receiving orders one
day which were likely to be countermanded the next, often having to
send their stores, nurses, etc., to one place while they awaited
orders in another, could find no time to provide quarters and
sustenance for a lady. As an illustration of this state of things, I
will here give an extract from a letter addressed to me after the war
by Dr. McAllister, of the "Buckner Hospital."
"I was ordered late in November to Gainesville, Alabama; before
reaching that place, my orders were changed to Macon; in February to
Auburn, Alabama; thence to the woods to organize a tent hospital. No
sick were sent there, and I had nothing to do but to build. Put up
eighty large tents, built octagon homes, with rounded tops, and
flag-poles on the top of each. Everything looked gloomy, but I kept on
as if I expected to remain there always. Just as I had everything
completed, received orders to move to Charlotte, North Carolina. When
I got to Columbus, Georgia, was ordered to send on my stores with my
negroes and women-servants, in charge of a faithful man, while I and
my detailed men were to remain in the city during its investment, and
as long as the struggle lasted, but at last to save myself, and join
my stores in Macon, Georgia.
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