 At this reception, a nurse who served with the Union Army, Ada Smith, had come by herself to the White House to pass through the long receiving line and wish the President well. As she came through the door, she recognized a crippled lieutenant named Gosper who had lost a leg and was hobbling forward on crutches as he made his way to the East Room. In the fighting around Petersburg earlier in the year, Ada had been his nurse when he was brought in with his right leg shot off,