Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, February 16, 1863

February 16, 1863.

Our Colonel [General] has been down to Hilton Head today and reported Brig. Gen. Stephenson under arrest and to be sent to Washington for asserting that he would rather the Union cause should be lost than be saved by black soldiers. I should like to see the gentleman this evening. Everything may go against us in the present, but these little episodes are refreshing.¹

My heart is lightened by the return of usual health to our camp. It is pleasant to find every one looking up instead of down. Some of the replies to medical questions are quite unique, as, for instance, “I feel jail-bound an' cough powerful.” “I've got misery all de way down from de top ob de head to de sole ob de foot.”

If I had not promised you freedom from individual histories in the future, I should try to write out the history of my head hospital nurse. Mr. Spaulding is a very superior man. He was kept in the stocks three weeks in the winter and his legs have not since been as strong as before. He is averse to speaking of himself. I trust his integrity, tenderness and natural ability as I would trust those qualities in John Milton Earle. He is a prince in the department and commands the respect of all.

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1 The incident is mentioned in "Letters from Port Royal, written at the Time of the Civil War," edited by Elizabeth Ware Pearson, 163.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 364-5