on. Dr. Lee was by birth a South
Carolinian, a polished gentleman, and, though in general
self-contained and of quiet manners, proved a warm friend and a most
pleasant host. Mrs. Lee used to search for me through the wards, and,
having found me, would flourish a "prescription," made out in due
form, for "an hour of leisure, to be repeated twice every week before
retiring." These hours spent at the pleasant quarters of Dr. and Mrs.
Lee were, indeed, "a feast of reason and a flow of soul," often
diversified by funny experiments in disguising the remains of the
day's rations by cooking recipes familiar in ante-bellum days, but
which generally failed because substitutes would never produce the
same results as the real ingredients.

Dr. Lee was some months afterwards transferred to Cherokee Springs as
surgeon in charge of one of the convalescent hospitals, of which Mrs.
Lee volunteered to act as matron. We parted with real regret, but
truly her patients gained by our loss. For she was most competent,
faithful, and well-beloved by those to whom she ministered.

The autumn passed quickly, some pretty severe days giving us a
foretaste of the rigor of a winter in North Georgia. By November 1 it
was not only bitterly cold, but snow covered the ground to the depth
of six inches, and the roads were furrowed and frozen. Terrible
accounts reached us from Bragg's army, who were without shoes,
blankets, or clothes, and suffering fearfully. Officers and men were
alike destitute. General Patton Anderson determined to make an effort
to supply his division, and for this purpose selected Lieutenant J.A.
Chalaron, Fifth Company, Washington Artillery, as one in every way
qualified to carry out such an undertaking, who was therefore ordered
to Savannah and other places to secure the needed supplies.

He cheerfully accepted the charge, although it involved deprivation of
the rest so greatly needed, and the continuance of hardship already
extended almost beyond human endurance. But the young officer was
every inch a soldier, and one of a company which had already won a
name for itself not less for invincible courage than for soldierly
bearing and devotion to duty. That so young a soldier was selected to
conduct such an undertaking proved how surely he had deserved and won
the confidence of his superior officers. In those days railroad
travelling was far from pleasant. The train upon which Lieutenant
Chalaron embarked at Knoxville was a motley