Louis, she was transferred to the large military
hospital at Benton Barracks and did not return to Memphis. Here for many
months, during the spring, summer and autumn of 1863, she served most
faithfully, and was considered one of the most efficient and capable
nurses in the hospital. At this place she was associated with a band of
noble young women, under the supervision of that excellent lady, Miss
Emily Parsons, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who came out from her
pleasant New England home to be at the head of the nursing department of
this hospital, (then in charge of Surgeon Ira Russell, United States
Volunteers), and to do her part towards taking care of the sick and
wounded men who had perilled their lives for their country. A warm
friendship grew up between these noble women, and Miss Parsons never
ceased to regard with deep interest, the tall, heroic, determined girl,
who never allowed any obstacle to stand between her and any useful
service she could render to the defenders of her country.

Another incident of her fearless and undaunted bravery will illustrate
her character, and especially the self-sacrificing spirit by which she
was animated. During the summer of 1863, it became necessary to
establish a ward for cases of erysipelas, a disease generating an
unhealthy atmosphere and propagating itself by that means. The surgeon
in charge, instead of assigning a female nurse of his own selection to
this ward, called for a _volunteer_, among the women nurses of the
hospital. There was naturally some hesitancy about taking so trying and
dangerous a position, and, seeing this reluctance on the part of others,
Miss Elliott promptly offered herself for the place. For several months
she performed her duties in the erysipelas ward with the same constancy
and regard for the welfare of the patients that had characterized her in
other positions. It was here the writer of this sketch first became
acquainted with her, and noticed the cheerful and cordial manner in
which she waited upon the sufferers under her care, going from one to
another to perform some office of kindness, always with words of genuine
sympathy, pleasantry and good will.

Late in the fall of 1863, Miss Elliott yielded to the wishes of the
Western Sanitary Commission, and became matron of the Refugee Home of
St. Louis--a charitable institution made necessary by the events of the
war, and designed to give shelter and assistance to poor families of
refugees, m