Gilman was the Democratic Party nominee for a U.S. House seat in 1859 and again in 1863, losing to William Windom and Ignatius Donnelly.
Gilman died at a hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota from a fall caused by a stroke at his home.
His mother remarried in 1829 to Nathaniel Eaton (1791-1878), who was later a Vermont state senator and a judge.
[7][8] One of Gilman's step-brothers was Dorman Bridgman Eaton (1823-1899), a lawyer prominent in civil service reform.
Catherine "Kit", born 1868, married a man named James Potter Elmer.