, and it
received great numbers of the wounded men from Gettysburg. As the number
of these was reduced by deaths, convalescence and discharge from the
army, their places were more than supplied by the returning prisoners,
paroled or discharged, from Libby, Belle Isle, Andersonville, Millen,
Salisbury, Florence and Wilmington. These poor fellows under the
horrible cruelties, systematically practiced by the rebel authorities,
with the avowed intention of weakening the Union forces, had been
starved, frozen, maimed and tortured until they had almost lost the
semblance of humanity, and one of the noble women who cared for them so
tenderly, states that she often found herself involuntarily placing her
hand upon her cheek to ascertain whether their flesh was like hers,
human and vitalized. The sunken hollow cheeks, the parchment skin drawn
so tightly over the bones, the great, cavernous, lackluster eyes, the
half idiotic stare, the dreamy condition, the loss of memory even of
their own names, and the wonder with which they regarded the most
ordinary events, so strange to them after their long and fearful
experience, all made them seem more like beings from some other world,
than inhabitants of this. Many of them never recovered fully their
memory or reason; the iron had entered the soul. Others lingered long on
the confines of two worlds, now rallying a little and then falling back,
till finally the flickering life went out suddenly; a few of the
hardiest and toughest survived, and recovered partial though seldom or
never complete health. During a part of the first year of Dr.
Vanderkieft's administration, Mrs. Adaline Tyler ("Sister Tyler") was
Lady Superintendent of the hospital, and the sketch elsewhere given of
her life shows how earnestly and ably she labored to promote the
interest of its inmates. During most of this time Miss Maria M. C. Hall
had charge of section five, consisting of the hospital tents which
occupied a part of the academical campus. Miss Helen M. Noye, a young
lady from Buffalo, a very faithful, enthusiastic and cheerful worker,
was her assistant, and remained for nearly a year in the hospital.

When in the spring of 1864, Miss Hall was appointed Mrs. Tyler's
successor as Lady Superintendent of the hospital, its numerous large
wards required several assistant superintendents who should direct the
preparation of the special diet, and the other delicacies so desirable
for the sick, attend to the conditio