Sarah Hopper Gibbons Emerson to her Father from Fredericksburg, 1864

Sarah Hopper Gibbons Emerson to her Father from Fredericksburg, 1864

Emerson, Sarah Hopper Gibbons, ed. Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons: Told Chiefly Through Her Correspondence. New York, G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1896, pp. 88-93. Transcribed by John Hennessy.

To begin where I left off! We slept on the Sanitary Barge in bunks; not very well, because they were unloading another boat directly alongside, which occupied the whole night. Started for this place at 7.30 A.m., wading through mud to get to the ambulances. Such a road! and how wounded men ever bear the transportation is a mystery. Twelve miles of jolting which took seven hours and tired us nearly out! The night before, thirty waggons were captured by guerillas between here and the Plain, but we saw nothing suspicious and decided that Mosely was frightened by our large Cavalry escort.

Reached Fredericksburg at 2 P.m. Had dinner and I was put into a Hospital at once. The whole town is filled with wounded. House after house, store after store, filled with men lying on the floor. I have about 160. We see nothing but frightfully wounded men