But the newspaper accounts of the intense suffering of the Union prisoners
in the rebel States aroused her, and caused her to leave her retirement.
In the month of October, 1863, Clotelle resolved to visit Andersonville,
Ga., for the purpose of alleviating the hardships of our sick and
imprisoned soldiers, and at once put her resolution into effect by going
immediately to that place. After crossing the lines, she passed as a
rebel lady, to enable her the more successfully to carry out her object.
On her arrival at Andersonville, Clotelle took up her abode with a
private family, of Union proclivities, and commenced her work of mercy.
She first visited the hospitals, the buildings of which were merest
excuses for hospitals.
It was the beginning of November; and, even in that southern latitude,
the cold made these miserable abodes uncomfortable nights and mornings.
The dirty, unventilated rooms, with nothing but straw upon the cold,
damp floor, for beds, upon which lay the ragged, emaciated Union prisoners,
worn down to skin and bone with disease and starvation, with their
sunken eyes and wild looks, made them appear hideous in the extreme.
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