d Fredericksburg, of
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and after the conflicts of the
Wilderness, and the fierce and undecided battles which were fought for
the possession of Richmond and Petersburg, in 1864 and 1865, she labored
steadfastly on until the end. Through scorching heat and pinching cold,
in the tent or upon the open field, in the ambulance or on the saddle,
through rain and snow, amid unseen perils of the enemy, under fire upon
the field, or in the more insidious dangers of contagion, she worked
quietly on, doing her simple part with all womanly tact and skill, until
now the hospital dress is laid aside, and she rests, with the sense of a
noble work done, and with the blessings and prayers of the thousands
whose sufferings she has relieved, or whose lives she has saved."

Amid all these labors, Miss Gilson found time and opportunity to care
for the poor negro washerwomen and their families, who doing the washing
of the hospital were allowed rations and a rude shelter by the
government in a camp near the hospital grounds. Finding that they were
suffering from overcrowding, privation, neglect, and sickness, she
procured the erection of comfortable huts for them, obtained clothing
from the North for the more destitute, and by example and precept
encouraged them in habits of neatness and order, while she also
inculcated practical godliness in all their life. In a short time from
one of the most miserable this became the best of the Freedmen's camps.

As was the case with nearly every woman who entered the service at the
seat of war, Miss Gilson suffered from malarious fever. As often as
possible she returned to her home for a brief space, to recruit her
wasted energies, and it was those brief intervals of rest which enabled
her to remain at her post until several months after the surrender of
Lee virtually ended the war.

She left Richmond in July, 1865, and spent the remainder of the summer
in a quiet retreat upon Long Island, where she partially recovered her
impaired health, and in the autumn returned to her home in Chelsea.

In person Miss Gilson is small and delicately proportioned. Without
being technically beautiful, her features are lovely both in form and
expression, and though now nearly thirty years of age she looks much
younger than she actually is. Her voice is low and soft, and her speech
gentle and deliberate. Her movements correspond in exact harmony with
voice and speech. But, under the softn