rought no change, was nearly worn out. The
need was so pressing, of care for the wounded, that she scarcely thought
of herself.

In the latter part of May, she left Belle Plain, and went to Port Royal,
where similar scenes were enacted, save that there a shelter was
provided. She had joined forces with the Sanitary Commission, and the
facilities were now good and the workers numerous, yet it was barely
possible, with all these, and with Government and Commission supplies,
and private contributions, to feed the applicants.

The Medical Purveyor's boat with her husband on board, having arrived,
Mrs. Spencer proceeded on that boat to White House, where she was placed
in Superintendence of the Government Cooking Barge, continuing at the
same time her supervision of the wants of the New York soldiery.

Here they fed the first wounded who arrived from the field, and here
Mrs. Spencer continued many days directing the feeding of thousands
more, ever remembering the regiments from her own State, as her special
charge, and assisted by many volunteers and others in her arduous task.

On the 18th of June, 1864, Mrs. Spencer arrived at City Point. The
wounded were still arriving, and there was enough for all to do. A
Hospital was here established, a mile from the landing. The Government
kitchen was kept up, till the hospitals and their kitchens were in full
operation, when it was discontinued, and Mrs. Spencer relieved from her
double task.

From that time, Mrs. Spencer confined herself mostly to the duties of
her agency, and continued to make City Point her headquarters and base
of operations until the close of the war closed the agency, and left
her free once again to seek the welcome seclusion of her home.

She occasionally visited the General Hospitals to distribute supplies to
her New York soldiers and others, but these being now well organized,
did not, owing to the plenty of attendants greatly need her services,
and they were mostly confined to visits to soldiers in the field, at the
Front, Field Hospitals, and in the Rifle Pits.[I]

[Footnote I: Every facility was furnished her by the various officers in
command, and a special and permanent pass by General Grant.]

Her equestrian skill now often came in use. Often a ride of from twenty
to forty miles in the day would enable her to visit some outlying
regiment or picket station, or even to reach the Rifle Pits that
honeycombed plain and hill-side all about Petersburg