her across the river. She turned to thank him, but he
was gone. Yet these occurrences, small as they were, had given her
renewed courage--she no longer felt quite friendless, but went
cheerfully upon her way.

She proceeded to the Fifth Street Hospital, where Mr. Yeatman had his
quarters, and was admitted by the use of his name. The night nurse, Mrs.
Gibson, took kind charge of her for that night, and in the morning she
was introduced to the matron, Mrs. Plummer, and to Mr. Yeatman. She had
her first sight of wounded men on the night of her arrival, and the
thought of their sufferings, and of how much could be done to alleviate
them, made her forget herself, an obliviousness from which she did not
for weeks recover.

She was assigned to the first ward in which there had been till then no
female nurse, and soon found full employment for hands, mind and heart.
The reception room for patients was on the same floor with her ward, and
the sufferers had to be taken through it to reach the others, so that
she was forced to witness every imaginable phase of suffering and
misery, and her sympathies never became blunted. Many of these men lived
but a short time after being brought in, and one man standing with his
knapsack on to have his name and regiment noted down, fell to the floor
as it was supposed in a swoon, but was found to be dead.

For some time when men were dying all around with typhus fever and
wounds, no clergyman of any denomination visited them. Mrs. Colfax and
other ladies would often at their request offer up prayers, but they
felt that regular religious ministrations were needed. After a time
through the intercession of a lady, a resident of St. Louis, the Rev.
Dr. Schuyler came often to supply this want, giving great comfort to the
sufferers.

About this time, the ward surgeon was removed, and another substituted
in his place, Dr. Paddock. This gentleman thus speaks of the services
and character of Mrs. Colfax:

ST. LOUIS, _March_ 2d, 1866.

"Among the many patriotic and benevolent Christian ladies who
volunteered their services to aid, comfort, and alleviate the
suffering of the sick and wounded soldiers of the Union Army in the
late wicked and woful Rebellion, I know of none more deserving of
honorable mention and memory, than Mrs. Harriet R. Colfax. I first
met her in the Fifth Street General Hospital of this city, where I
was employed in the spring of 18