Woman's Work in the Civil War Part 52

A member of Congress once called to urge her to persuade her husband to yield a point of principle (which he said if adhered to would prove the political ruin of Mr. Gage) holding out the bribe of a seat in Congress, if he would stand by the old Whig party in some of its tergiversations, and insisting that if he persisted in doing as he had threatened, he would soon find himself standing alone. She promised the gentleman that she would repeat to her husband what he had said, and as soon as he had gone seized her pencil and wrote the following impromptu, which serves well to ill.u.s.trate her firm persistence in any course she believes right, as well as the principle that animates her.

DARE TO STAND ALONE.

"Be bold, be firm, be strong, be true, And dare to stand alone.

Strike for the Right whate'er ye do, Though helpers there be none.

"Oh! bend not to the swelling surge Of popular crime and wrong.

'Twill bear thee on to Ruin's verge With current wild and strong.

"Strike for the Right, tho' falsehood rail And proud lips coldly sneer.

A poisoned arrow cannot wound A conscience pure and clear.

"Strike for the Right, and with clean hands Exalt the truth on high, Thou'lt find warm sympathizing hearts Among the pa.s.sers by,

"Those who have thought, and felt, and prayed, Yet could not singly dare The battle's brunt; but by thy side Will every danger share.

"Strike for the Right. Uphold the Truth.

Thou'lt find an answering tone In honest hearts, and soon no more Be left to stand alone."

She handed this poem to the gentleman with whom she had been conversing, and he afterwards told her that it decided him to give up all for principle. He led off in his district in what was soon known as the Free Soil party, the root of the present triumphant Republican party.

In 1853 the family of Mrs. Gage removed to St. Louis. Those who fought the anti-slavery battle in Ma.s.sachusetts have little realization of the difficulty and danger of maintaining similar sentiments in a slaveholding community, and a slave State. Mrs. Gage spoke boldly whenever her thought seemed to be required, and soon found herself branded as an "abolitionist" with every adjective appended that could tend to destroy public confidence.

While Colonel Chambers, the former accomplished editor of the Missouri Republican lived, she wrote for his columns, and at one time summing up the resources of that great State, she advanced this opinion: "Strike from your statute books the laws that give man the right to hold property in man, and ten years from this time Missouri will lead its sister State on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Mississippi."

After the publication of this article, Colonel Chambers was waited upon and remonstrated with by some old slaveholders, for allowing an abolitionist to write for his journal. "Such sentiments," they said, "would destroy the Union." "If your Union," replied he, "is based upon a foundation so unstable that one woman's breath can blow it down, in G.o.d's name let her do it. She shall say her say while I live and edit this paper."

He died soon after, and Mrs. Gage was at once excluded from its columns, by the succeeding editors, refused payment for past labors, or a return of her ma.n.u.scripts.

The Missouri Democrat soon after hoisted the flag of Emanc.i.p.ation under the leaders.h.i.+p of Frank Blair. She became one of its correspondents, and for several years continued to supply its columns with an article once or twice a week. Appearing in 1858 upon the platform of the Boston Anti-Slavery Society, she was at once excluded as dangerous to the interests of the party which the paper represented.

During all the years of her life in Missouri Mrs. Gage frequently received letters threatening her with personal violence, or the destruction of her husband's property. Slaves came to her for aid, and were sent to entrap her, but she succeeded in evading all positive difficulty and trial.

During the Kansas war she labored diligently with pen, tongue, and hands, for those who so valiantly fought the oppressor in that hour of trial. She expected to be waylaid and to be made to suffer for her temerity, and perhaps she did; for about the close of that perilous year three disastrous fires, supposed to be the work of incendiaries, greatly reduced the family resources.

This portion of the life of Mrs. Gage has been dwelt upon at considerable length, because she regards the struggle then made against the wickedness, prejudice, and bigotry of mankind, as the main bravery of her life, and that if there has been heroism in any part of it, it was then displayed. "If as a woman," she says, "to take the platform amidst hissing, and scorn, and newspaper vituperations, to maintain the right of woman to the legitimate use of all the talents G.o.d invests her with; to maintain the rights of the slave in the very ears of the masters; to hurl anathemas at intemperance in the very camps of the dram-sellers; if to continue for forty years, in spite of all opposing forces, to press the triune cause persistently, consistently, and unflinchingly, ent.i.tles me to a humble place among those n.o.ble ones who have gone about doing good, you can put me in that place as it suits you."

At the breaking out of the war, by reason of her husband's failure in business at St. Louis, and his ill-health, Mrs. Gage found herself filling the post of Editor of the Home Department of an Agricultural paper in Columbus, Ohio. The call for help for the soldiers, was responded to by all loyal women. Mrs. Gage did what she could with her hands, but found them tied by unavoidable labors. She offered tongue and pen, and found them much more efficient agents. The war destroyed the circulation of the paper, and she was set free.

The cry of suffering from the Freedmen reached her, and G.o.d seemed to speak to her heart, telling her that there was her mission.

In the autumn of 1862, without appointment, or salary, with only faith in G.o.d that she should be sustained, and with a firm reliance on the invincible principles of Truth and Justice, in the hope of doing good, she left Ohio, and proceeded directly to Port Royal.

She remained among the freedmen of Beaufort, Paris, Fernandina, and other points, thirteen months; administering also to the soldiers, as often as circ.u.mstances gave opportunity. Her own four boys were in the Union army, and this, if no more, would have given every "boy in blue,"

a claim upon her sympathy and kindness.

In the fall of 1863, Mrs. Gage returned North, and with head and heart filled to overflowing with the claims of the great mission upon which she had entered, she commenced a lecturing tour, speaking to the people of her "experiences among the Freedmen." To show them as they were, to give a truthful portrayal of Slavery, its barbarity and heinousness, its demoralization of master and man, its incompatibility with all things beautiful or good, its defiance of G.o.d and his truth; and to show the intensely human character of the slave, who, through this fearful ordeal of two hundred years, had preserved so much goodness, patient hope, unwavering trust in Jesus, faith in G.o.d, such desire for knowledge and capability of self-support--such she felt to be her mission, and as such she performed it! She believed that by removing prejudice, and inspiring confidence in the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation, and by striving to unite the people on this great issue, she could do more than in any other way toward ending the war, and relieving the soldier--such was the aim of her lectures, while she never omitted to move the hearts of the audience toward those so n.o.bly defending the Union and the Government.

Thus, in all the inclement winter weather, through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri, she pursued her labors of love, never omitting an evening when she could get an audience to address, speaking for Soldiers' Aid Societies, and giving the proceeds to those who worked only for the soldier,--then for Freedmen's a.s.sociations. She worked without fee or reward, asking only of those who were willing, to give enough to defray her expenses--for herself--thankful if she received, cheerful if she did not.

Following up this course till the summer days made lecturing seem impossible, she started from St. Louis down the Mississippi, to Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez. On this trip she went as an unsalaried agent of the Western Sanitary Commission--receiving only her expenses, and the goods and provisions wherewith to relieve the want and misery she met among our suffering men.

A few months' experience among the Union Refugees, and unprotected fugitives, or unprotected Freedmen, convinced her that her best work for all was in the lecturing field, in rousing the hearts of the mult.i.tude to good deeds.

She had but one weak pair of hands, while her voice might set a hundred, nay, a thousand pairs in motion, and believing that we err if we fail to use our best powers for life's best uses, she again, after a few months with the soldiers and other sufferers, entered the lecturing field in the West, speaking almost nightly.

In the month of September, she was overturned in a carriage at Galesburg, Illinois. Some bones were broken, and she was otherwise so injured as to be entirely crippled for that year. She has since been able to labor only occasionally, and in great weakness for the _cause_.

This expression she uses for all struggle against wrong. "Temperance, Freedom, Justice to the negro, Justice to woman," she says, "are but parts of one great whole, one mighty temple whose maker and builder is G.o.d."

Through all the vicissitudes of the past; through all its years of waiting, her faith in Him who led, and held, and comforted, has never wavered, and to Him alone does she ascribe the Glory of our National Redemption.

MRS. LUCY g.a.y.l.o.r.d POMEROY.

In 1803, some families from Bristol and Meriden, Connecticut, removed to the wilderness of New York, and settled in what is now Otisco, Onondaga County. Among these were Chauncey g.a.y.l.o.r.d, a st.u.r.dy, athletic young man, just arrived at the age of twenty-one, and "a little, quiet, black-eyed girl, with a sunny, thoughtful face, only eleven years old." Her name was Dema Cowles. So the young man and the little girl became acquaintances, and friends, and in after years lovers. In 1817 they were married. Their first home was of logs, containing one room, with a rude loft above, and an excavation beneath for a cellar.

In this humble abode was born Lucy Ann g.a.y.l.o.r.d, the subject of this sketch, who afterwards became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, United States Senator from Kansas.

Plain and humble as was this home, it was a consecrated one, where G.o.d was wors.h.i.+pped, and the purest religious lessons taught. Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d was a woman of remarkable strength of character and principles, one who carried her religion into all the acts of daily life, and taught by a consistent example, no less than by a wise precept. Her mother had early been widowed, and had afterwards married Mr. Eliakim Clark, from Ma.s.sachusetts, and had become the mother of the well-known twin-brothers, Lewis g.a.y.l.o.r.d, and Willis g.a.y.l.o.r.d Clark, destined to develop into scholars and poets, and to leave their mark upon the literature of America. She had been entrusted with the care of these beautiful and n.o.ble boys for some years, and was already experienced in duties of that kind, before children of her own were given her.

Doubtless to her high order of intellect, refined taste, amiable disposition, and sterling good sense, all the children who shared her care are indebted to a great extent for the n.o.ble qualities they possess.

Other children succeeded Lucy, and as the elder sister, she shared, in their primitive mode of life, her mother's cares and duties. Her character developed and expanded, and she grew in mental grace as in stature, loving all beautiful things and n.o.ble thoughts, and early making a profession of religion.

By this time the family occupied a handsome rural homestead, where neatness, order, regularity, industry and kindness reigned, and where a liberal hospitality was always practiced. Here gathered all the large group of family relatives, here the aged grandmother Clark lived, and hither came her gifted twin sons, from time to time, as to their home.

The most beautiful scenery surrounded this homestead; peace, order, intelligence, truth and G.o.dliness abounded there, and amidst such influences Lucy g.a.y.l.o.r.d had the training which led to the future usefulness of her life. Even in her youth she was the friend and safe counsellor of her brothers, as in her maturer years she was of her gifted husband.

At eighteen she made a public profession of religion, and soon after the thought of consecrating herself to the missionary work took possession of her mind. To this end she labored and studied for several years, steadfastly educating herself for a vocation to which she believed herself called, though often afflicted with serious doubts as to whether she, being an only daughter, could leave her parents.

In early life she became an earnest and efficient teacher in Sunday-schools, her intellectual pursuits furnis.h.i.+ng her with ever fresh means of rendering her instruction interesting and useful to her cla.s.ses. She undoubtedly at the first considered this as a training for the work to which, in time, she hoped to devote herself.

But this hope was destined to disappointment. One violent illness after another finally destroyed her health, and she never quite recovered the early tone of her system. Yet she worked on, doing good wherever the means presented.

Soon afterwards she met with the great sorrow of her life. The young man to whom she was soon to be married, between whom and herself the strongest attachment existed, cemented by a mutual knowledge of n.o.ble qualities, was suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed from her, and she became a widow in all but the name.

This sorrow still more refined and beautified her character. By degrees the sharpness of the grief wore away, and it became a sweet, though saddened memory. Eight years after her loss, she became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Southampton, Ma.s.sachusetts. "They were of kindred feelings in life's great work, had suffered alike by early bereavement, and were drawn together by that natural affinity which unites two lives in one."

He had given up mercantile business in Western New York not long before, and had returned to his early home to care for the declining years of his aged parents. And this was the missionary work to which Mrs. Pomeroy found herself appointed. She was welcomed heartily, and found her duties rendered light by appreciation and affection.

Here, as elsewhere, Mrs. Pomeroy made herself actively useful beyond, as well as within, her home. She performed duties of Sabbath School and general religious instruction, that might be called arduous, especially when added to her domestic cares and occupations. These, with other labors, exhausted her strength and a protracted season of illness followed.

From that time, 1850, for five or six years, she continued to suffer, being most of the time very ill, her life often despaired of. During all this season of peculiar trial she never lost her faith and courage, even when her physicians gave no hope of her recovery, being contented to abide by the will of Providence, convinced that if G.o.d had any work for her to do He would spare her life. During this time her husband was often absent, being first in the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature, and afterwards sent out as Agent by the Northeastern Aid Society to Kansas, which they were desirous to settle as a free State. Into this last duty she insisted with energy that he should enter. During his absence she experienced other afflictions, but her health notwithstanding rallied, and as soon as possible she made preparations to remove to Kansas where Mr. Pomeroy wished to make a home. In the spring of 1857 she finally arrived there, and there she remained until the spring of 1861, when she accompanied her husband to Was.h.i.+ngton, when he went thither to take his seat in the Senate.

The hards.h.i.+ps and the usefulness of her life in Kansas are matters of history, and it is truly surprising to read how one so long an invalid was enabled to perform such protracted and exhausted labors. All who knew her there bear ample and enthusiastic testimony to the usefulness of her life. To the whites she was friend, hostess, counsellor, a.s.sistant, in sickness and in health. To the poor and despised blacks, striving to find freedom, she was friend and teacher, even at the time when her near neighborhood to the slave State of Missouri, made the service most dangerous. Then followed the terrible famine year of 1860.

During all that time she freely gave her services in the work of providing for the sufferers. Mr. Pomeroy, aided by the knowledge he had acquired in his experience as Agent of Emigration, was able at once to put the machinery in motion for obtaining supplies from the East, and Mrs. Pomeroy transformed her home into an office of distribution, of which she was superintendent and chief clerk. It was a year that taxed far too heavily her already much exhausted strength.