"Up to this time," says Mr. Reed, "the colored troops had taken but a passive part in the campaign. They were now first brought into action in front of Petersburg, when the fighting was so desperately contested that many thousands were left upon the field. The wounded were brought down rapidly to City Point, where a temporary hospital had been provided. It was, however, in no other sense a hospital than that it was a depot for wounded men. There were defective management and chaotic confusion. The men were neglected, the hospital organization was imperfect, and the mortality was, in consequence, frightfully large. Their condition was horrible. The severity of the campaign in a malarious country had prostrated many with fevers; and typhoid, in its most malignant forms, was raging with increasing fatality.
"These stories of suffering reached Miss Gilson at a moment when the previous labors of the campaign had nearly exhausted her strength; but her duty seemed plain. There were no volunteers for the emergency, and she prepared to go. Her friends declared that she could not survive it; but, replying that she could not die in a cause more sacred, she started out alone. A hospital had to be created, and this required all the tact, finesse, and diplomacy of which a woman is capable. Official prejudice and professional pride had to be met and overcome. A new policy had to be introduced, and it had to be done without seeming to interfere. Her doctrine and practice always were instant, cheerful, and silent obedience to medical and disciplinary orders, without any qualification whatever; and by this she overcame the natural sensitiveness of the medical authorities.
"A hospital kitchen had to be organized upon the method of special diet; nurses had to learn her way, and be educated to their duties; while cleanliness, order, system, had to be enforced in the daily routine. Moving quietly on with her work of renovation, she took the responsibility of all changes that became necessary; and such harmony prevailed in the camp that her policy was vindicated as time rolled on. The rate of mortality was lessened, and the hospital was now considered the best in the department. This was accomplished by a tact and energy which sought no praise, but modestly veiled themselves behind the orders of officials. The management of her kitchen was like the ticking of a clock—regular discipline, gentle firmness, and sweet temper always. The diet for the men was changed three times a day, and it was her aim, so far as possible, to cater to the appetites of individual men.
"Her daily rounds in the wards brought her into personal intercourse with every patient, and she knew his special needs. At one time nine hundred men were supplied from her kitchen. The nurses looked for Miss Gilson's word of praise, and labored for it; and she had only to suggest a variety in the decoration of the tents to stimulate a most honorable rivalry among them, which soon opened a wide field for displaying ingenuity and taste, so that not only was its standard the highest, but it was the most cheerfully picturesque hospital at City Point."
It was more than an ordinary task to take charge of the colored hospital service, and the burden was greater than many men could endure. But Miss Gilson was equal to the emergency, and gained the love and respect of all who associated with her. Mr. Reed, who was a witness of her work, said: "As she passed through the wards, the men would follow her with their eyes, attracted by the grave sweetness of her manner, and when she stopped by some bedside, and laid her hand upon the forehead and smoothed the hair of some soldier, speaking some cheering, pleasant word, I have seen the tears gather in his eyes, and his lips quiver, as he tried to speak or touch the folds of her dress, as if appealing to her to listen while he opened his heart about his mother, wife, or sister, far away.
"And in sadder trials, when the life of a soldier whom she had watched and ministered to was trembling in the balance between earth and heaven, she has .seemed, by some special grace of the Spirit, to reach the living Christ and draw a blessing down as the shining way was opened to the tomb. I have seen such looks of gratitude from weary eyes, now brightened by visions of heavenly glory, the last of many recognitions of her ministry. Absorbed in her
