New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-08
A WARTIME WORKER.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GREAT HEARTED
WOMAN.

bOnS not in the forefront or the pat'ie' shc
followed in its train. among the wounded ana
dying; but the tragedies enacted there are none
the less impressive to the reader because he
misses the noise and fury and glory Of the hght.
In the van men conquered or died. to the rear
they were carried to suffer. and wherever surfer
ing was to be found the subject of this biography
moved with dignity and adaptabiity mat
make her to-day one of the most interesting
figures OF the Civil War. How idle it seems TO
look into fiction as men have recently come 10
look for the colcrs and daily human character
istics of the contendng armies OF the sMues'
when in letters like Mrs. Gibbonss one may
come into direct contact with those armies. her
biography composed to a great extent or her
own words. makes good history ana better
reading.
The kind OF woman that Mrs. Gibbons was Is
perhaps best shown by the somewhat blunt re-
mark made at Albany when some bill affecting
CITY charities was under consideration. SEND
I'D the little Quaker lady" said the politicians
''thc rest may stay. at home" The words are
eloquent All her life she devoted to tasks with
which few women ever find themselves able 10
cope. Companions she had and noble ones
too, in her campaign Of nursing during the war;
but her CONTEMPORARIES united in regarding her
always as one of the individuahties tate
especially brings forth for great occasions Born
into the Society Of Friends and cultiVating I'M
weariedly the humane principles OF her Sect
Mrs Gibbons nevertheless had an energetic
COURAGEOUS and decisive way with her that in
another woman would have been regarded as
downright pugnacity. Once having determined
unon a line of conduct 1t was really easier for
her to fight for it than to relinquish it in favor
of some other line dictated by some one else
Long before she went to Point Lookout ana
Fredericksburg to nurse the soldiers she accus-
toned herself to vigorous courses OF actoh' III
1912 her husband and father were disoWned py
the New York Quakers. who, in control OF the
Monthly Meeting. were indisposed to come OUT
as definitely and as earnestly on the anti-slav-
ery side as Isaac Hopper and James Gibbons
Thought necessary. Mrs. Gibbons never hcsi-
tated. She prepared brief document request
ing the withdrawal from the list Of members OF
her own name and the names of her four chill
dren This in itself may not seem to have been
a daring thing to DO. but when it is considered
that Abolition was fermenting with more and
more energy. that men bore deep feelings on the
subject it will be seer that it required some
courage to tell the Society OF Friends That IL
had rejected the testimony Of truth against the
great evils Of slavery and ntemperance. Nor
WAS Mrs Gibbons content to send the paper TO
be read by the clerk of the meeting. Il went to |
meeting" she writes, took my seat about the |
fourth seat from the gallery, racing the clerkS,
waited until the opening minute and the minutes
of the previous month were read. then arose, and
in a tone that might be heard at the farthest |
corner read what | have here copied This
happened twenty years before the war, but Mrs
Gibbons may be said to have been marked from
that time as upon whom some of the Sc
yerest trials Of the great conflict would fall.
She watched its evolution and she sympathiZed
with those who ranged themselves from the
start on the right side. Her husband sent no
Quaker guns to the front. but he wrote I'VE
are coming, Father Abraham and both he
and his wife contributed abundantly 10 the vast
store Of moral force which brought the Union
through.
She in the military hospitals, worked gloriously.
1t is amazing to find this gentle Quaker lady
going about her duties among the wounded win
the frmness and % an old doctor. $40
had much of a doctors healing power, If she
did not have his professional skill. and the rec
ord of her experience with the soldiers is touch-
ing in its implication of the good she did them
the comfort she TO them in moments when
It seemed to the broken down men, dying far
from home and kindred. as if there were no
comfort anywhere. What they thought of her
comes out in quaint epistle from private
at Point Lookout. 1t may be promised that Mrs
Gibbons had had trouble at that place with
one of the officers. an occurrence not uncommon,
for she made pretence Of putting up with
perfunctory unwilling cooperation. The sol
der writing 90 the dear friend and more than
mother" who, he goes on, lifted me up from
bed of sickness and nourshed me Until became
as strong as a young Samson" proceeds TO tell
her about the recalcitrant officer Your friend,