Page:The woman in battle .djvu/377

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A QUIET WEDDING.
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ing worn the uniform of a Confederate officer. We, how ever, resolved to take no one else into our confidence, although there were several good friends of both of us in the town, whom we would have been glad to have had at our wedding.

I procured a sufficiency of woman's apparel for my wedding outfit, by purchasing at a variety of places, under the pleas that I wanted the garments for some persons out of town, or for presents to the girls at the hotel in fact, making up whatever story I thought would answer my purpose. My trousseau was, perhaps, not so complete or so elegant as it might have been under some circumstances, or as I could have desired; but then, the particular circumstances under which the wedding was to take place were peculiar, and neither the bridegroom nor the bride was disposed to be over ceremonious, or to make much ado about trifles. So long as the captain and myself were satisfied, it did not much matter whether any one else was pleased or not ; and we both concluded that a very modest wardrobe would be all that I would need, the main thing being that I should be dressed as a woman when the ceremony took place, for fear of creating too much of a sensation, and, perhaps, of making the clergyman feel unpleasant should I appear before him, hanging on the captain's arm, in my uniform.

My arrangements having all been made, we concluded to inform the friends whom we had agreed to invite ; and accordingly we walked to the hospital together, when the captain called Dr. Benton into his private room, and astonished him by telling him that he was going to be married, and by asking him to attend the wedding. I broke the news as gently as I could to Dr. Hammond, who scarcely knew what to make of it at first, but who, when I made him clearly under stand the situation, gave me his hearty congratulations, and promised to be present when the happy event came off.

A Wedding.

The next day Captain De Caulp and I were married in the parlor of the hotel by the Rev. Mr. Pinkington, the post chap lain, in as quiet and unpretentious a way as either of us could desire. The clergyman and our kind friends wished us all manner of happiness; and we both looked forward to a bright future, when, after the war was over, we could settle down in