ss Barton proceeded promptly to the spot
to ascertain their condition and afford such voluntary relief as might
be in her power. Hence, if she was not the first person in the country
in this noble work, no one could have been more than a few hours before
her. The regiment was quartered at the Capitol, and as those early
volunteers will remember, troops on their first arrival were often very
poorly provided for. The 21st of April happened to be Sunday. No
omnibuses ran that day, and street cars as yet were not; so she hired
five colored persons, loaded them with baskets of ready prepared food,
and proceeded to the Capitol. The freight they bore served as
countersign and pass; she entered the Senate Chamber, and distributed
her welcome store. Many of the soldiers were from her own neighborhood,
and as they thronged around her, she stood upon the steps to the Vice
President's chair and read to them from a paper she had brought, the
first written history of their departure and their journey. These two
days were the first small beginnings of her military experience,--steps
which naturally led to much else. Men wrote home their own impressions
of what they saw; and her acts found ready reporters. Young soldiers
whom she had taught or known as boys a few years before, called to see
her on their way to the front. Troops were gathering rapidly, and
hospitals--the inevitable shadows of armies--were springing up and
getting filled. Daily she visited them, bringing to the sick news, and
delicacies and comforts of her own procuring, and writing letters for
those who could not write themselves. Mothers and sisters heard of her,
and begged her to visit this one and that, committing to her care
letters, socks, jellies and the like. Her work and its fame grew week by
week, and soon her room, for she generally had but one, became sadly
encumbered with boxes, and barrels and baskets, of the most varied
contents. Through the summer of 1862, the constant stock she had on hand
averaged about five tons. The goods were mainly the contributions of
liberal individuals, churches and sewing-circles to whom she was
personally known. But, although articles of clothing, lint, bandages,
cordials, preserved fruits, liquors, and the like might be sent, there
was always much which she had to buy herself.

During this period as in her subsequent labors, she neither sought or
received recognition by any department of the Government, by which I
mean only th