George W. Gile

George was born in Bethlehem, New Hampshire with roots going back six generations to settlers in the 1600s. Besides having ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, his father commanded a company of citizen-soldiers in the 1820s as part of the New Hampshire militia. As a teenager he wanted to enlist to fight in the Mexican War of 1846 but was too young. 

His parents divorced and he moved with his mother to Massachusetts where he was listed in the 1850 census as an artist. That really meant an actor because he was studying for the stage and, as one biographer wrote, “he became a player of some note.”

It may have been a performance in Philadelphia where he was attracted to a local teenager named Emma Virginia Shuster. They married there in 1855 when she was 17. It appears they travelled together as his troupe played from town to town; their first son was born while they were in Cleveland in 1857. He was given his father’s name, whose middle initial stood only for the letter W.

The 1860 census shows the actor and his family were living in Philadelphia and they just had their second son. Eleven days after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, George enlisted as a 1st lieutenant in the 22nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving until August when his term expired. He re-enlisted as a major in the 88th Infantry, led by Colonel George McLean, who is also buried here and has a notable life story here.  He joined as a major in the 22nd at the same time as George Gile, so the two men were well acquainted.

In August of 1862, the 88th fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run, which was a Confederate victory. Private Thomas Donaldson was one of the regiment’s fatalities and is buried here. He was just 16 when he died. 

George was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September and he led the unit at Antietam on September 17. This was a Union victory but George was wounded in the fight. Also wounded were two of his men who are buried here. One was a sergeant, coincidentally named Joseph Sergeant and the other was Sylvester Martin, who would later be awarded the Medal of Honor while in battle in 1864.

The regiment was at Fredericksburg in December. That ended in a loss for the Union but another promotion for George, this time to colonel. To his regret, he was discharged in March due to the ongoing disability because of his wound.

At about the same time, the War Department realized the need to retain experienced men on light duty so the more able-bodied soldiers could be better utilized on the front lines. They created the Veteran Reserve Corps, and George enlisted for a third time and became a member of the Board of Examiners. 

Among other assignments, the Reserve Corps guarded the nation’s capital which was defended by 68 forts in a 37-mile ring around the city. In the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early led a force of 14,000 to attack Fort Stevens at the northwestern edge of the District.  Had he been successful in penetrating the defenses, panic would have ensued in the North and it might have affected the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. Colonel Gile commanded a regiment at nearby Fort Slocum and rushed reinforcements, successfully repelling the attackers.

For his efforts he was “brevetted,” or given an honorary title of brigadier general. On the record he was still officially listed as a colonel, because it came with no increase in pay or authority. In his later years, however, he liked being known as a general.

George was in command at the president’s second inaugural ceremony in March of 1865 and as Lincoln’s funeral escort in April. He was general officer of the day a month later at the Grand Review of the Armies, a procession of 145,000 soldiers in Washington, D.C. marking the end of the war. 

For a few more months he remained in charge of the fortifications as they were gradually dismantled, then continued on duty as part of the Freedman’s Bureau. That federal agency’s objective was to assist the four million formerly enslaved people in becoming self-sufficient. On the 1870 census his family was listed in Lowell, Massachusetts and his occupation was “Officer, U.S. Army.” He retired with the rank of colonel later that year after most of the Bureau’s funding was cut.

They moved to Camden, New Jersey where George began selling insurance and a third son was born. There’s no record of him trying to resurrect a career in the unstable world of show business while raising a family, especially after their daughter Emma was born in 1875. 

Still, the acting bug didn’t leave entirely. An 1890 review of a long-running play at the Arch Street Theatre mentioned him in a small part. In an 1885 newspaper his name appeared as president of the Actors’ Order of Friendship, a  benevolent association for theater people with chapters in Philadelphia and New York City. 

Life remained busy outside of work and home with his involvement in veterans’ groups. His favorite would have been the Survivors’ Association of the 88th Regiment. George served on reunion committees and took an active role in the design and funding of this monument for the 88th on the battlefield at Gettysburg, even though he wasn’t serving with them at that time.

He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. It became a powerful lobbying organization for pension benefits while offering support and a social outlet through local posts. George was part of Post 5 and an official on the state level of the GAR. He also joined the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a patriotic group in which the membership was limited to officers and their descendants.

His mother came to live with his family in New Jersey and died there in 1889. George remained in the insurance business for over 20 years, commuting to his office in Philly. Then in 1893, when he and Emma were empty nesters, they moved back to the city and that’s when his health forced him to slow down. His heart grew weak and dilated until it stopped in the spring of 1896.

Friends from the theater, the 88th, the GAR, and the Loyal Legion all attended the funeral in a great show of sympathy. The Actors’ Order of Friendship provided a place for him in their plot in Section 203. Emma outlived him by 22 years but he was the only member of his family to be buried at Mount Moriah.