Georgeanna and Eliza had “enlisted for the war,” which they did not understand to mean staying comfortably housed in Washington, while the army marched to danger and death. So when the orders came for the advance of the Army of the Potomac, they definitely determined to go too, in some way or other, and not to allow themselves to be kept back even by dear Joe Howland’s concern for their comfort and safety, feeling sure of his consent when the right moment came. Georgeanna writes to him:
Will you, dear Joe, seriously think about our going when and where you go. . . . The distress of having you away and in the greatest danger—hours and hours, probably days—beyond our reach, would be infinitely harder to stand than any amount of cold, hunger, or annoyance, and the knowledge that Eliza was in such a state of mind would make you quite as unhappy as the thought that she might be hungry and cold. . . . We want to be within one hour’s ride, at most, of the battlefield, and to be there ready for the battle if it must come. When it is all over what possible use would there be in our coming on? There will always be some roof of a barn at any rate that would give us shelter enough, and where we could stay if there was fighting. It was bad enough to go through Bull Run here in Washington. Nothing can be more miserable than a second such experience. . . . You only laugh when I talk to you, so I am obliged to write.
. . . I feel it to be my right and privilege to follow you, not only for my own satisfaction in being near you, but because we know we can be of great use among the troops in case of sickness and danger. We can follow you in the carriage, keeping within reach of you in case of need, and with George and Moritz we can be sufficiently protected anywhere in the rear of our army. I trust to you, dear, to do all you can to forward our plan, and I am sure you will not leave us in doubt and indecision longer than you can help. . . .
The impression seems to be that a great battle will take place in the neighborhood of Yorktown very soon. In view of this, think of the criminal neglect of the medical department in not having any hospital arrangements made there or at Fortress Monroe which begin to be sufficient! One of the doctors of the Sanitary Commission writes that on his arrival there he found already 500 sick men without beds to lie on. The Commission have fitted up one large hospital on their own account, and have sent for supplies to be forwarded immediately, and we have this morning set a large amount of sewing going—bedticks, etc., to be forwarded to Old Point as soon as possible. There are so many sick and so few to take care of them that Dr. Robert Ware of the Sanitary Commission has had to undress and wash the men himself. And this is before a battle.
