Susie King Taylor photograph, Library of Congress.
Excerpts from Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops.
“I was enrolled as company laundress, but I did very little of it, because I was always busy doing other things through camp, and was employed all the time doing something for the officers and comrades.”
“I taught a great many of the comrades in Company E to read and write, when they were off duty. Nearly all were anxious to learn… I was very happy to know my efforts were successful in camp, and also felt grateful for the appreciation of my services.”
“It seems strange how our aversion to seeing suffering is overcome in war,—how we are able to see the most sickening sights, such as men with their limbs blown off and mangled by the deadly shells, without a shudder; and instead of turning away, how we hurry to assist in alleviating their pain, bind up their wounds, and press the cool water to their parched lips, with feelings only of sympathy and pity.”