CHAPTERXXXI
Thewar was over, and government passes and government roads were of the past, only regular army transportation was now allowed, except to the Medical Department for the purpose of sending home delayed patients. My “Grant Pass,” that had made me so independent, became at once only a relic. Therefore, being entitled to transportation to my home, I went to Surgeon General Barnes, U. S. A., to receive that privilege. After a pleasant conversation with the General, he remarked, “Your name is not on the pay roll, and you are entitled to pay for army service. If you will make out your claim I will endorse it.”
To this I replied,—with more sentiment, as I now see it, than judgment,—“General, I thank you, but I do not wish pay for my services in hospital work. If I had been a man I would have enlisted as a soldier. But being only a woman it was all I could do, and I wish to give that service to my country.”
Often, since then, I have thought of the quizzical expression of the General’s eyes, though he said not a word about an impractical girl who did not think far enough to see what good she might have done with that accumulated wage of several years.
At that time, however, I was receiving (during several months) sixty dollars per month as New York State Agent,—the only pay I ever received. But that seemed different. The war was over.
The General then asked how far I wanted transportation. I replied that I lived in Brooklyn, but would take transportation as far as he would give it. But as I used it only to my home I still have the following form of transportation:
“Boston & Maine R. R.This Order not Transferable.D.No.51978Oct. 20, 1865.Transport Miss Ada W. SmithFrom Boston,Mass., to Portland,Me.En Route from Washington to Augusta,Me.Signature of officer issuing the order,IRA G. PAYNE,Capt. A. Q. M.By order of the Quarter Master General,LEWIS B. PARSONS,Col. & Chief of Rail and River Transportation.”
“Boston & Maine R. R.
This Order not Transferable.
D.No.51978
Oct. 20, 1865.
Transport Miss Ada W. Smith
From Boston,Mass., to Portland,Me.En Route from Washington to Augusta,Me.Signature of officer issuing the order,
IRA G. PAYNE,Capt. A. Q. M.
By order of the Quarter Master General,
LEWIS B. PARSONS,Col. & Chief of Rail and River Transportation.”
Resting only a few days after my return to my home, I was urged by friends on the Sanitary Commission to assist, with another, a lady of remarkable ability, a Miss Baldwin, in dispensing some surplus funds for the Sanitary Commission, with Headquarters in New York City. This surplus could not, according to their organization, be used for other purposes than for the benefit of soldiers. After much discussion it seemed that the soldiers’ families should be the natural recipients. So during most of that unusually severe winter, 1865-6, I went daily from my home in Brooklyn to New York, and with my companion found many families in need of help, who might otherwise have perished with cold. When spring brought relief, the last dollar of that grand life-saving organization was expended.
ADELAIDE SMITHADELAIDE W. SMITH, 1867
ADELAIDE W. SMITH, 1867
This was, of course, before the day of pensions. We continued this work until the funds were exhausted. Then I retired finally from the engrossing activity of hospital life and caring for soldiers’ families, in which I was engaged from 1862 through 1866.
I had been very happy in this ministration that daily brought its reward in the gratitude and appreciation of my “Boys in Blue,” and in the thought that I had done at least what I could in that fearful struggle to save our Union and glorious country.
No one really desires to grow old, but I would not have missed that call for every heart and hand to respond to its duty, even to be young again.
And the star spangled bannerIn triumph shall wave,O’er the land of the freeAnd the home of the brave.Francis Scott Key.
And the star spangled bannerIn triumph shall wave,O’er the land of the freeAnd the home of the brave.Francis Scott Key.
And the star spangled banner
In triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave.
Francis Scott Key.
letter
MISS ADELAIDE W. SMITH gave her lecture, “Hospital Experience During the War,” before the U. S. Grant Post of Brooklyn, on Tuesday evening, March 9th last, under the auspices of the Entertainment Committee. A large audience was present to greet Miss Smith. The subject, itself one of absorbing interest, was skilfully presented by the lecturer and was received with marked attention and interest.
I take very great pleasure in commending Miss Smith’s lecture to the G. A. R. Posts of New York and vicinity also to Church Societies, Clubs, Schools, and other organizations that go to make up the social and intellectual life of a community. Miss Smith’s services to our sick and wounded soldiers from 1861 to 1865 entitle her to the generous recognition of our comrades, and the men and women of America.
(Signed) ANDREW JACOBS,Chairman Entertainment Committee,U. S. Grant Post,Brooklyn, New York.