The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-17
CAPTAIN ) Al | | |, I :!
=; MOTHER II IN''CEfY
AGED WOMAN GAVE YOUNG SONS
=, :, TO SERVE COUNTRY,
Stirring Civil War Recollections Told
by Mrs. Gridley, Who, was Nurse in
Northern Hospitals, and Survives Her
6 Famous Son, Hero Of tho Battle Of
F.. Manila. ,-,>s .>,.,.. ,.. -. -,

"A spartan woman OF America Is Mrs.
A. E. Gridley of Washington, who is
spending encampment week with her
niece, Mrs. 'Creton O'Gorman, at 2oo6
she had to her country when it was
in need and she herself went as nurse
to the sick soldiers. Her famous elder
son, Charles Gridley, to whom Dewey
spoke those words before the battle of
: Manila: "You may fire when you are
ready, Gridley,'' was in the naval
school at the opening of the civil war,
and tho a very young man he saw
service then: His younger brother,
Lucius, all his mother had, joined the
army as drummer boy at the outbreak
OF the war when he was but 49, Thus
dld patriotism triumph over the
children and keep them safe. ~"And
II had been man. says Mrs. Grid
ley, ~ too, would have been SOL
der. And yet what soldier did moro
Tor his country than this woman Of 80
years, who still has the fire of youth
and such intense patriotism7 80 80
Both her sons saw fighting in the
distinguished himself under Farragut
at the capture Of Fort Morgan and
Fort Gaines. II consider that nv
greatest honor was to have been able
said, but that was before the Spanish
American war. After her second son,
Luclus,i entered the army he, like d
great many Of the soldiers, suffered
terribly from disease. It was a great
temptation to the mother when she
saw his suferings and the means to
get him out Of the army were offered.
not to take him home where she could
nurse him and have him to herself.
But like the Spartan woman it was,
.'Come home with your shield or on
It,, and the boy remained soldier
turnout the war.
Heart-Rending Hospital Sights.
These two Mrs. Gridley gave and in
the last year she herself went as an
army nurse, supported by the Ladies
Aid society of Hillsdale, Mich. Six
weeks she was at White House landing
and six weeks at Washington and the
rest OF the year she spent at Annapolis.
Inc mention of the place recalled such
memories to Mrs. Gridley that her eyes,
put a; moment before alight with pa-
trlot1sm and sacrifice, were misted with
tears which finally streamed' down her
trembling with feeling said: ct will
never forget those poor starved soldiers
that came back to Annapolis while Il
was there: Some with eyes SO sunken
that half cupful of water would MT
have overfowed the cavity. Men 40
badly emac iated that their mothers did
not know them and their friends passed
them by. When people LOOKING for
their loved ones went thru the HOSPITAL.
It was only by sick voice CRYING
- my brother, or any mother, , ;that
And even while. the sadness Of it all
ana the loss OF. her son and the sorrow
OF OF the nation caused her tears to flow.
the heart was stanch and she said
Oh, DO not regret it. I can. never
Lseg 9',; sending my boys and going NY
Mrs. Gridley reverences the men an Who
saved her country more than ANYTHING
on earth. "When I hear young bows
ana girls speak slightingly, even In
s MiHdG;aingtt4 70 49, she; said, "of the Old
al ana talk to them and tell them, make
them understand that it is only because
or those very men that they have a
country at all. I'M American IL IT,
and thru Wednesday morfing Ms
Gr1dley occupied seat in the arInv;
nurses; stand and she was mitch pleaseff
WITH the parade, commenting UPON 'itg
arrangement: Particularly dfd she
emphasize the splendid work done INV
the Wearers of the rcd cross. sHTt had
never been surpassed ANYWHERE - she
sa1d - do not believe that there vas
one there who did not venerate the Old
= Captain Gridley's Heroism.
Mrs; Gridley loves to talk about her
son, Charles, whose name will ALWAYS
be famous one in American historv
but whenever she speaks of him her
sense of loss is evident. Brave at heart
she is, but the mothers love and tia
mother's loneliness calls forth the tears
winch she cannot restrain. The vision
of her sick boy, grown man. bnt
always boy to her, spendinn t vuo
hours and a half in the conning tow wy
pressing, this button, now that, to
direct the laundering guns, comes to
her wildly when she speaks of him.
Scarcely able to stand,' she said
and in that tower under the tropical
sun which even the natives find it hard
to bear, with his last strength WINNING
the battle for the United States.'' #
was wonderful bravery, but with such
a mother. Captain Gridley could have
done nothing else.
Mrs. -Gridley is: a woman of great
force whom fate has strengthened with
great trials of strength. Now an she
passes her eightieth year, her heart il
as brave and her soul as hopeful AZ T.
has ever been. One: after another in
her girlhood her relatives were taken
from her; her country claimed her ali