Sunday evening, January
11, 1863.
At service today the President's proclamation was read and
the Colonel asked all who wanted to fight for liberty, to say “Aye.” The
response would have satisfied greater enthusiasts than uncle Abraham. . . .
I have lost more than one hour's sleep since coming here,
listening to the coughing of the soldiers in the night and in trying to
contrive plans to meet the more obvious causes. In a climate so damp and with
change of temperature so great between midday and midnight, I have steadily
felt the importance of some means by which the soldier's A tents could, with
their clothing, be more effectually dried and purified than is ordinarily done
by the sun. To have a fire in a tent 7 x 8 for four men, without fireplaces,
stove, or even an opening in the top, did not seem quite feasible, but we are
trying in James's and one other company, an experiment which is likely to prove
a success. Remembering the antiseptic influence of wood smoke, and also the
primitive cabins from which many of our people came, we have, this evening, had
fires built in the centre of the tents, the floor boards in the middle being
removed and a hole being dug in the sand for the fuel. The soldiers enjoy this
scheme. After the smoke ceases, the beds of coals make the tents seem very
cosy. The Colonel is not backward in favoring every hygienic measure that
offers any good to the soldiers. A few days experiment with two companies will
settle the question by comparison of sick lists.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 343
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