e was much sickness, and the
wounded were being brought in daily by hundreds from the prolonged
struggle for the Weldon Road, everything moved on with the regularity of
clock-work. As you neared the landing, coming up the James, you saw, a
little farther up the river, the red flag of the Sanitary Commission
floating over the three barges which were its office, its storehouse,
and its distributing store for the whole Army of the Potomac. Climbing
up the steep road to the top of the bluff, and advancing over the
undulating plain a mile, you come to a city,--the city of hospitals. The
white tents are arranged in lines of almost mathematical accuracy. The
camp is intersected by roads broad and clean. Every corps, and every
division of every corps, has its allotted square. Somewhere in these
larger squares your eye will be sure to catch sight of the Sanitary
flag, and beneath it a tent, where is the corps station. You enter, and
you find within, if not as great an amount, at least as varied a supply,
of hospital stores as you would find anywhere, waiting for surgeons'
orders. To a very great extent, the extra diet for all the sick and
wounded is furnished from these stores; and very largely the cooking of
it is overseen by ladies connected with the Commission. In every corps
there are from five to fifteen relief agents, whose duty it is to go
through the wards once, twice, three times in each day, to see what the
sick need for their comfort, to ascertain that they really get what is
ordered, and in every way to alleviate suffering and to promote
cheerfulness and health.

I shall never forget a tour which I made with a relief agent through the
wards for the blacks, both because it showed me what a watchful
supervision a really faithful person can exercise, and because it gave
such an opportunity to observe closely the conduct of these people. The
demeanor of the colored patients is really beautiful,--so gentle, so
polite, so grateful for the least kindness. And then the evidences of a
desire for mental improvement and religious life which meet you
everywhere are very touching. Go from bed to bed, and you see in their
hands primers, spelling-books, and Bibles, and the poor, worn, sick
creatures, the moment they feel one throb of returning health, striving
to master their alphabet or spell out their Bible. In the evening, or
rather in the fading twilight, some two hundred of them crept from the
wards, and seated themselves in a