6th, 17th, and 18th
of June, 1864, that there had been any considerable number of the
colored troops of the Army of the Potomac wounded. In those engagements
however, as well as in the subsequent ones of the explosion of the mine,
and the actions immediately around Petersburg, they suffered terribly.
The wounded were brought rapidly to City Point, where a temporary
hospital had been provided. We give a description of this hospital in
the words of Dr. Reed, who was associated subsequently with Miss Gilson
in its management.

"It was, 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 was to be created, and this required all the tact,
finesse and diplomacy of which a woman is capable. Official prejudice
and professional pride was to be met and overcome. A new policy was to
be introduced, and it was to be done without seeming to interfere. Her
doctrine and practice always were instant, silent, and cheerful
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 was to be organized upon her method of special diet;
nurses were to learn her way, and be educated to their duties; while
cleanliness, order, system, were 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 soon considered
the best in the department. This was accomplished by a tact and energy
which sought no praise, but modestly veiled themselves