pitals after a great battle, or of instructors and superintendents of
freedmen and freedwomen; these ladies might have pleaded an apology for
some natural shrinking from the work, from its dissimilarity to all
their previous pursuits. But to the call of duty and patriotism, they
had no such objections to urge.

Mrs. Joseph Howland was the wife of a Colonel in the Union army, and
felt it a privilege to do something for the brave men with whom her
husband's interests were identified, and accompanying him to the camp
whenever this was permitted, she ministered to the sick or wounded men
of his command with a tenderness and gentleness which won all hearts.
When the invitation was given to her and her sister to unite with others
in the Hospital Transport service, she rejoiced at the opportunity for
wider usefulness in the cause she loved; how faithfully, earnestly, and
persistently she toiled is partially revealed in the little work
published by some of her associates, under the title of "Hospital
Transports," but was fully known only by those who shared in her labors,
and those who were the recipients of her kind attentions. One of these,
a private in the Sixteenth New York Regiment (her husband's regiment),
and who had been under her care on one of the Commission's transports at
White House, expressed his gratitude in the following graceful lines

"From old St. Paul till now
Of honorable women, not a few
Have left their golden ease, in love to do
The saintly work which Christ-like hearts pursue.

"And such an one art thou? God's fair apostle,
Bearing his love in war's horrific train;
Thy blessed feet follow its ghastly pain,
And misery and death without disdain.

"To one borne from the sullen battle's roar,
Dearer the greeting of thy gentle eyes
When he, a-weary, torn, and bleeding lies,
Than all the glory that the victors prize.

"When peace shall come and homes shall smile again,
A thousand soldier hearts, in northern climes,
Shall tell their little children in their rhymes
Of the sweet saints who blessed the old war times."

_On the Chickahominy, June 12th, 1862._

Impaired health, the result of the excessive labors of that battle
summer, prevented Mrs. Howland from further active service in the field;
but whenever her health permitted, she visited and labored in the
hospitals around Washington, and her thoughtful attention and words of
e