Confederatevets.com

Morgan S. Gilmer was born in Lowndes County, Ala., November 30, 1846, a son of George N. and Caroline Smith Gilmer, and died September 16, 1914, in Brevard, N. C., where he had gone to spend the summer in search of health. He was a resident of Montgomery, Ala, and a member of the Court Street Methodist Church, of which he was a trustee. His life was one of consecrated piety. He was married twice, his first wife being Pattie Barton, and his second, her sister, Helen Barton, who, with one daughter, Mrs. Pattie Gilmer Owen, survives him.

Morgan Gilmer left the University of Alabama in the early days of 1864 with a company of cadets who were anxious to fight for their country, although the were only sixteen or seventeen years old.

As first lieutenant in the same company, the writer can truthfully say the Comrade Gilmer made a gallant soldier, always ready for duty, however arduous or perilous. He did not know the meaning of the word "fear." Several years before his death he organized a band of children, the sons and daughters of Confederate veterans, twenty-six in number, and named them "The Yaller-Hammers," the nickname of the Alabama soldiers in the war. Comrade Gilmer was proud of this little band and took them to every Confedeate reunion, where they were always accorded a place in the parades and attracted their full share of attention. The Yaller-Hammers met with one of the saddest losses of their lives when their beloved commander died; for they loved him, and he loved them.

Morgan S. Gilmer was elected to the office of assessor of taxes for Montgomery County, Ala., and was serving his second term when he died. He was loved by all who knew him well and was regarded as a model Christian.