Ella Elvira Gibson Hobart (08 May 1821 – 08 Mar 1901 | Winchendon MA – Barre MA) poet, editor, educator, essayist, Freethinker, pamphleteer, ordained minister, first female US Army chaplain, posthumously awarded rank of Captain [2002].

Go, little Book, thy mission be a work of love and charity. Improve, instruct and elevate. Go,

little Book, and learn thy fate – that though he fight, and groan, and die, and far from home

his ashes lie, no one to weep where they repose, no kindred near his eye to close, no prayer

above his dying head, no mother bending o’er her dead, no coffined shroud around his form,

no tombstone e’er his grave adorn, no one to know how brave he fell, his deeds of daring

none to tell, no one to praise where praise was due, and crown him as a warrior true. Yet

if our brother, soldier, friend, thus should die, a life you lend unto your country’s pressing

need, O then afford to fight and bleed! O suffer on, and ne’er despair,  prepare yourself for

life or death. We give you up, with hope & anxious fear, your lives & loves we  consecrate,

for we know not what may be your fate!

Hobart, Ella E. G. The Soldier’s Gift: The Dangers and Temptations of Army Life. Chicago: Tribune Press, 1863. https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/quiner/id/52421