he soldiers' restoration to
health, was wanting; the pasty, adhesive mud was everywhere, and the
hospital tents, old, mildewed, and leaky, were pitched in it, and no
floors provided; hard tack, salt junk, fat salt pork, and cold, greasy
bean soup, was the diet provided for men suffering from typhoid fever,
and from wounds which rendered liquid food indispensable. Soft bread was
promised, but was not obtained till just before the breaking up of the
encampment. Nor was the destitution of hospital clothing less complete.
In that disastrous retreat across the peninsula, many of the men had
lost their knapsacks; the government did not provide shirts, drawers,
undershirts, as well as mattresses, sheets, blankets, etc., in anything
like the quantity needed, and men had often lain for weeks without a
change of clothing, in the mud and filth. So far as a few zealous
workers could do it, Mrs. Harris, and her willing and active coadjutors
sought to remedy these evils; the clothing, and the more palatable and
appropriate food they could and did provide for most of those who
remained. Having accomplished all for these which she could, and the
army having left the James River, after spending a few days at the
hospitals near Fortress Monroe, Mrs. Harris came up the Potomac in one
of the Government transports, reaching Alexandria on the 31st of August.
Here she found ample employment in bestowing her tender care upon the
thousands of wounded from Pope's campaigns.

On the 8th of September, she followed, with her supplies, the army on
its march toward South Mountain and Antietam. She reached Antietam the
day after the battle, and from that time till the 3rd of November, aided
by a corps of most devoted and earnest laborers in the work of mercy,
among whom were Mrs. M. M. Husband, Miss M. M. C. Hall, Mrs. Mary W.
Lee, Miss Tyson, and others. Mrs. Harris gave herself to the work of
caring for the wounded. Sad were the sights she was often called to
witness. She bore ample testimony to the patience and the uncomplaining
spirit of our soldiers; to their filial devotion, to the deep love of
home, and the dear ones left behind, which would be manifested in the
dying hour, by brave, noble-hearted men, and to the patriotism which
even in the death agony, made them rejoice to lay down their lives for
their country.

Early in November, 1862, Mrs. Harris left Smoketown General Hospital,
near Antietam, and came to Washington. In the hospitals in a