was brought in contact. They looked up to her, reverenced and almost worshiped her. She had their entire confidence and respect. Even the roughest of them yielded to her influence and obeyed her wishes. It has been recorded by one who knew her well that she once stepped out of her tent, before which a
group of men were fiercely quarreling, having refused with oaths and vile language to carry a sick comrade to the hospital at the request of one of the male agents of the commission, and quietly advancing to their midst renewed the request as her own. Immediately every angry tone was still, their voices were lowered and modulated respectfully; their oaths ceased and quietly and cheerfully without a word of objection they lifted their helpless burden and tenderly carried him away.
It finally became necessary to evacuate Fredericksburg and the wounded were sent away. The steamer with the last of the wounded and the members of the auxiliary corps left just in season to escape the Guerrillas who came into the town. William Howell Reed of Boston, who had been in charge of the auxiliary corps up to this point wrote of this boat passage as follows: "As the boat passed down the river the negroes by instinct came to the banks and begged us by every gesture of appeal not to pass them by. At Fort Royal they flocked in such numbers that a Government barge was appropriated for their use. A thousand were stowed upon her decks. They had an evening service of prayer and song and the members of the corps attended the weird ceremony. When their song had ceased Miss Gilson addressed them. In the simplest language she explained the difference between their former relations with their old masters and the new relations they were about to assume with the Northern people, explaining that labor in the North was voluntary and that they could only expect to secure kind employers by faithfully discharging their duties. This was the beginning of Miss Gilson's work for the negroes. Her crowning labor was in their hospital at City Point after the battle of Petersburg. The wounded from this battle had been brought down rapidly to City Point where a temporary hospital had been provided. There was defective management and chaotic confusion; the men were neglected, the hospital organization was imperfect, and the mortality was in consequence frightfully large. Conditions were deplorable. The stories of their suffering reached Miss Gilson at a moment when her previous labors of the campaign had nearly exhausted her strength ; but her duty seemed plain. Her friends declared that she could not survive a repetition of her experiences, but replying that she could not die in a cause more sacred she started out alone. That she succeeded in this great work is nothing short of miraculous. Official prejudice and professional pride had to be continually met and overcome. A new policy had to be introduced. Miss Gilson's doctrine and practice were always instant and cheerful obedience to medical and disciplinary orders without question or demur, and by these methods she overcame the natural sensitiveness of the medical authorities. Moving quietly on with her work of renovation, she took the responsibility of all the changes that became necessary, and such harmony prevailed in the camp that her policy was finally completely vindicated. She even established a hospital kitchen upon her own method of special diet, and here cleanliness, order and system had to be in force in the daily routine. This was
