Mrs. Hopkins watched over me with the tenderness of a mother. But she
also had hands and heart full. Her cautions, with those of other
friends, bore not a feather's weight in comparison with the increasing
demands of my sick. But one day I fell fainting while on duty. Thus
began a severe attack of nervous fever, which brought me very low. Can
I ever forget the tender, devoted nursing of some of the ladies of
Richmond! Truly it seemed as if "God had sent angelic legions," whose
sweet faces bent above me day after day, whose kindly voices pervaded
my feverish dreams. The same care usually given to sick soldiers was
now lavished upon me. After several days I was able to leave my bed,
but, finding myself totally unfit for duty, and being unwilling to
remain a burden upon my kind friends, I decided to go to my husband's
relatives in Alabama, though fully intending to return to my labors in
Richmond as soon as my strength should be restored.

My husband having been transferred to the Army of Tennessee, where he
continued to serve until the close of the war, this plan was changed.
I have never since revisited the scene of my earliest service to the
Confederacy. Perhaps it is as well that I did not, for memory
preserves at least this one picture, more full of light than shadow,
because always softly illumined by the beautiful star which had not
then begun to wane,--"the star of Hope."




CHAPTER II.

ALABAMA.