" Crept..On Hands And Knees., To Catch Every Note ", Gilson's Healing Raid Of Song, Mayre's House

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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With the most haunting, elusive call in all birdom, if not melodious, our whip-poor-will for some reason seems evocative of past, healing voices. Don't ask me why, Helen's songs for wounded that day at Fredericksburg made me think, not of larks or thrush- but this sweet, plaintiff song, calling from Time.

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Wounded, in the yard at Mayre's House, from one of the massive tiff's on LoC

We are so familiar with some names, that when stories attached come up maybe our eyes glaze over, a little. It was an awfully big war. We'll gallop off to the next story / event slash gee whiz article. It can pay to back up the bus and listen ( literally ). Moments in time are awesome. Bumping into them makes you wish you'd been there, hopefully not a fly on the wall.
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We do not see Helen smiling in photos. This is it, a little, half smile, I think? Dr. Reed, in his account, describes her this way- lucky we have it.

Fredericksburg, Maryre's House. Helen Gilson, niece of Massachusetts Governor Frank Fay was midway through a compassion fueled career, nursing wounded. We had more points of light, through blood drenched years, than stars you could count through a night- Gilson was one. Her story encompasses far too long a war, far too many gifts to wounded men to stuff into one thread. This is one moment, one gift, one day.

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I like this LoC photo of Mayre's House best because it's so indicative of what a shambles the whole thing became.

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Who knows, if these wounded heard Helen sing? It's an awesome, awful photo. Read somewhere 2/3's of Union casualties occurred in front of this position.

A demoralized, defeated Union Army was stunned, middle of December, 1862, with over 12,000 casualties in a massive battle where 200,000 men clashed. Porter's chickens vanished along with Union troops in front of Maryre's formerly dignified mansion, a horrendous, tragic site, during the battle and post battle. Front line hospitals were like that.

Help poured in, the usual names. Healing help, burying help, comforting help. This single moment has always gotten to me. We move so quickly through our day, turn on the TV or radio, make phone calls, pass time without noticing it. Helen Gilson had been a noted vocalist pre-war. She brought that, too.

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' Began to crawl out into the entries ', ' crept on their hands and knees ; , . " Hers was indeed and angel of ministry ".

Her bio is elsewhere or we need a new thread. This is about that moment, in 1862, with 1863 around the corner.
 
Amazing power of gentle kindness, compassion... and the old hymns!!


You know, we have so much amazing music out there now, so easily available, it's easy to forget our ancestors did not. All silence, laying there wounded, in pain, your world in chaos. A hymn, breaking deafening silence? Easy to miss this stuff. Well, easier to focus on still contentious aspects of the war keeping everyone busy and distracted 150 years later.
 
You know, we have so much amazing music out there now, so easily available, it's easy to forget our ancestors did not. All silence, laying there wounded, in pain, your world in chaos. A hymn, breaking deafening silence? Easy to miss this stuff. Well, easier to focus on still contentious aspects of the war keeping everyone busy and distracted 150 years later.

You've captured a key point which we must ever be mindful of: the "contentious aspects of the war keeping everyone busy and distracted".
We must be active in finding and holding tight to the truth, certainly, but always bathe every issue and word with brotherly love, try to "climb into their skin and walk around," as Harper Lee said, and not become distracted by those who bait for the purpose of conflict, who fuel contention and strife.
 
"who bait for the purpose of conflict, who fuel contention and strife."
There were enough of those before, during, and after the war. The war has been over for more than 150 years, the issues are settled, the dead are buried. It is no longer our fight, only our interest. We should be able to follow and discuss it in an objective and intelligent manner. I often wonder what the veterans would think about our continuing rancour about their war. Would they be saying, "Get a Life!"?
 
There were enough of those before, during, and after the war. The war has been over for more than 150 years, the issues are settled, the dead are buried. It is no longer our fight, only our interest. We should be able to follow and discuss it in an objective and intelligent manner. I often wonder what the veterans would think about our continuing rancour about their war. Would they be saying, "Get a Life!"?
YES!!!
 
There were enough of those before, during, and after the war. The war has been over for more than 150 years, the issues are settled, the dead are buried. It is no longer our fight, only our interest. We should be able to follow and discuss it in an objective and intelligent manner. I often wonder what the veterans would think about our continuing rancour about their war. Would they be saying, "Get a Life!"?


You should read Glady's book, NL, if you haven't, elucidating the point. No commission here, swear! True family story, Southern, civilian and in the ranks, ground level from the generation that had to step out of the shambles. Very cool stuff and she already knows I said that, so no flattery here.
 
@Harms88 , it's the Helen Gilson, Marye's House story. It's worth a bump anyway, what Mrs. V was saying about singing.

Worth a bump because we lost Helen, who raised her hand at a time when this country badly needed her. The dangers were known and these women went anyway, it was remarkable. You know the uber-famous story of Jenny Wade, killed at Gettysburg? You don't hear as much of her sister. Georgiana. She buried her sister in the back yard, handed that famous baby to her mother and walked to the hospitals to nurse wounded. THEN she signed on for the rest of the war as an Army nurse.
 
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