Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/50

 42 Southern Historical Society Papers.

it. It was a critical moment. My friend, Dr. Brodie Strauchan Herndon, of Fredericksburg, Va., a prisoner, by immediate and severe remedy arrested the gangrene at once; and soon afterwards made a permanent cure of the wound, and also re- stored my general health. The tardiness of my wound in heal- ing was caused by the low condition of my health. On our way to Pennsylvania, I sat on my horse in the mid-stream of the Shenandoah while my regiment, the 9th Va., waded across. I did the same when it crossed the Potomac. When we reached Williamsport I went under the treatment of our surgeon. It was there, for the first time since I was twelve years old, a drop of intoxicating liquor passed my lips, save at the communion table.

It was owing to. the condition of my health that a slight injury on my lip, while at David's Island, caused by my biting it, although not malignant, refused to heal. Finally I was ad- vised by Dr. Herndon to have it cut out. He said, however, that the operation could not be safely performed in the prison on ac- count of a tendency to gangrene. I obtained permission to go to Sandusky for the purpose. I was given a parole. I went to the leading hotel in the city. There I met strange coinci- dence with Mr. Merritt Todd and his wife, both natives of my own county, Isle of Wight, Va., friends of my father in their early days, with their granddaughter, Parker Cooke, then about fourteen years of age. Their home before the war was in -Nor- folk. Mr. Todd had established a large and lucrative business in curing hams in Cincinnati where he owned valuable real es- tate. To prevent the confiscation of his property he made Ohio the State of his residence during the war, and was at this time in Sandusky. Nothing under the circumstances could have added more to my happiness than thus to be thrown in intimate intercourse with these friends.

I reported to the Federal surgeons. They received me most courteously. They seated me in a chair for the operation. They asked me if I wished to take an anaesthetic. It instantly flashed in my mind to show these kind surgeons how a Confederate sol- dier could bear pain, and I answered No! I sat in the chair from the beginning to the end of the operation without a groan or a token of pain. Their work was done skillfully, effectively