When I awoke it was broad daylight, and the room was crowded full of wounded and dying men, so thickly packed that I could hardly stir.  I was not in the same place where I had lain down; but of my change of place, and of the dreadful scenes which had occurred during the night, I had not the slightest knowledge.

As I became fully awake and sat up, the surgeon turned to me, and said, “Well, you are alive at last.  I thought nothing but an earthquake would wake you.  We have moved you about like a log, and you never groaned or showed any signs of life.  Men have trampled on you, dying men have groaned all around you, and yet you slept as soundly as a babe in its cradle.  Where is your wound?”

How I endured the horrors of that night, rather how I was entirely unconscious of them and slept refreshingly through them, is to me a mystery.  But so it was, and it seemed to be the turning-point of my knee-wound, as it has never troubled me so much since.

I now rode on to Corinth, where I changed clothes, had a bath and breakfast, and found a hospital and a surgeon.  He decided that I was unfit for duty, and must take my place among the invalids.  After dressing my wounds he advised rest.  I slept again for six hours, and woke in the afternoon almost a well man, as I thought.

Thus ended my courier service, and I then resolved that no earthly power should ever force me into another battle against the Government under which I was born; and I have kept my resolution.

General Beauregard’s official dispatch of the second day’s battle, given below, was a very neat attempt to cover up defeat.  It expresses the general opinion of the people in the South as to the battle of Pittsburg Landing.

“CORINTH, Tuesday, April 8, 1862.

“To the SECRETARY OF WAR, Richmond: 

“We have gained a great and glorious victory.  Eight to ten thousand prisoners, and thirty-six pieces of cannon.  Buell reinforced Grant, and we retired to our intrenchments at Corinth, which we can hold.  Loss heavy on both sides.

“BEAUREGARD.”

CHAPTER VI.

HOSPITAL SERVICE.

Wounded arriving. —­ Care of my own Men. —­ Appointment as Assistant-surgeon. —­ Discharge from Rebel Army. —­ Dreadful Scenes. —­ Sickness. —­ Nurses. —­ Stoicism. —­ Military Murder of a Deserter. —­ No Pay. —­ Go to Mobile. —­ Spirit of the People on the Way. —­ Met at Depot. —­ No Means of Escape. —­ The Stagnant City. —­ Surveillance of the Press.  —­ Forced Charity. —­ In charge of a Hospital. —­ Selma. —­ Kindness of Ladies. —­ Piano. —­ Artesian Wells. —­ Model Hospital. —­ Furlough to Richmond. —­ Rigid Discipline. —­ Disappointment. —­ Bitter Thoughts. —­ Crinoline and Volunteering. —­ North asleep.

The wounded were now arriving in large numbers, but so exhausted by the loss of blood, the jolting in rough wagons, and the exposure of the fearful night, that many were too far gone for relief.