d soon afterward broke up that pest-house
at Jupiter and moved the command back to Capron. So far as I know,
Fort Jupiter was never again occupied, and I think the block-house
on Lake Okeechobee was never completed. At all events, as good
luck would have it, I got through with my part of the work and was
ordered out of Florida before the Seminoles found out what the
plans of the War Department were. My old friend and companion
George L. Hartsuff, who had like duty to perform on the west side
of the lake, was attacked by the Indians and severely wounded,
several of his men being killed. He and a few others made their
escape. Hartsuff was one of the strongest, bravest, finest soldiers
I ever knew, and one of my most intimate friends; but, unlike
myself, he was always in bad luck. He got caught by the Seminoles
in Florida; was shipwrecked on Lake Michigan; came very near dying
of yellow fever; and after organizing the Twenty-third Army Corps
and commanding it for a time, finally died of the wounds he had
received in Florida.

I had a new and peculiar experience at Fort Capron during my
convalescence. I had there twenty-five or thirty convalescent
soldiers, and no doctor, but an intelligent hospital steward. I
was like the lawyer who was asked to say grace at the table of one
of his wealthy clients, and who was unwilling to admit, under such
circumstances, that there was any one thing he could not do. So
I had sick-call regularly every morning, carefully questioned every
patient as to his symptoms, and told the steward what to give him,
taking care not to prescribe anything which some doctor had not
tried on me. All my patients got well. At length A. P. Hill came
up from Jupiter, on his way home on sick-leave. At Capron he had
a relapse, and was desperately ill. I had to send a barge to
Jupiter for some medicine which he knew was necessary. Mr. Jones,
the sutler, and some of the men helped me to nurse him night and
day for a long time. At length he recovered so far as to continue
his journey.

About the same time came orders promoting me to first lieutenant
and detailing me for duty at West Point. So Hill and I came out
of Florida together. On board the St. John's River steamer I had
a relapse, and was very ill. Hill cared for me tenderly, kept me
at Savannah awhile, and then some days at Charleston, where I became
so much better that he ventured to leave me long enough to go over
to Fort Moultrie to s