until the hospitals were closed by order
of the Government, she continued this work, expending her whole salary
upon these suffering men, and never omitting anything by which she might
minister to their comfort.

Thousands of soldiers can bear testimony to her unwearied labors; it is
not wanting, and will be her best reward. One of these writers says, "I
do assure you it affords me the greatest pleasure to be able to add my
testimony for that good, that noble that _blessed_ woman, Mrs. Taylor. I
was wounded at Port Hudson in May, 1863, and lay in the Barracks General
Hospital at New Orleans for over three months, when I had an excellent
opportunity to see and know her work. * * * She worked _every_ day in
the hospital--all her school salary she spent for the soldiers--night
after night she toiled, and long after others were at rest she was busy
for the suffering." And another makes it a matter of personal
thankfulness that he should have been applied to for information in
regard to this "blessed woman," and repeats his thanks "for himself and
hundreds of others," that her services are to be recorded in this book.

Having great facility in the use of her pen, Mrs. Taylor made herself
especially useful in writing letters for the soldiers. During the year
from January 1864 to January 1865, she wrote no less than eleven hundred
and seventy-four letters for these men, and even now, since the close of
the war, her labors in that direction do not end. She is in constant
communication with friends of soldiers in all parts of the country,
collecting for them every item of personal information in her power,
after spending hours in searching hospital records, and all other
available sources for obtaining the desired knowledge.

During the summer of 1864, her duties were more arduous than at any
other time. She distributed several thousands of dollars worth of goods,
for the Cincinnati Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, and
on the 1st of June, when her vacation commenced, she undertook the
management of the Dietetic Department in the University Hospital, the
largest in New Orleans. From that time till October 1st, she, with her
daughter and four other ladies, devoted like herself to the work, with
their own hands, with the assistance of one servant only, cooked,
prepared, and administered all the extra diet to the patients, numbering
frequently five or six hundred on diet, at one time.

Two of these ladies were con