buds was woven for the
funeral of our little loved one; a single pink rose was laid with tears
on the flag-covered coffin by the soldier-nurse who had tenderly cared
for him through his illness.

Impelled by an intense feeling of the importance of a speedy exchange of
the large number of men who had been taken prisoners since the opening
of the spring campaign, two of the ladies in the hospital went to
Washington one day. They were kindly received by President Lincoln, and,
in the few minutes' interview they had with him, the pictures of some of
the released prisoners were shown to him. As he gazed at them, a pitying
sadness crossed his brow. He asked if indeed they could be correct, and
gave a promise that those who were then in the hands of the enemy should
be exchanged as soon as it was in his power to effect it. Could that
time have sooner come, what unutterable tortures would have been saved
to thousands!

Strawberry festivals were given to the men at this time; gingerbread,
and a plentiful supply of fruit, adding a little variety to their
every-day fare. The time afforded for such diversions by a less pressing
amount of care than usual was cut short by the arrival of the steamer
Connecticut, bringing six hundred of those most seriously wounded at the
disastrous attack upon Petersburg on the 18th of June. These men were
landed at midnight; their wounds had been carefully attended to before
their arrival, and were found to be in good order. Yet many were in a
dying state, and it was impossible to do for every man all that we
desired on the morning that followed, and added by its heat to their
weakness, thirst, and discomfort. Hastily the hospital attendants moved
from one helpless sufferer to another, in the thickly crowded tent
wards. One man would shriek, in frenzied agony, for a drink of water;
another would beg to be fanned; while others would ask to be bathed with
ice-water.

Among the newly arrived was General Chamberlain, the present Governor of
Maine. Supposed to have been "mortally wounded," so terribly had a
Minie-rifle-ball shattered his body, he was, after having been borne by
painful and exhausting stages from the extreme front, landed in an
almost dying condition. Leaving Bowdoin College as Colonel of the Maine
Twentieth, he had already distinguished himself by dashing bravery in
many of the great battles of the war. At Petersburg he was raised to the
rank of General by Grant for gallantry in leadin