page_title: Flour sack
section_title: Reuel Colt Gridley
hierarchical_section_title: Flour sack / Reuel Colt Gridley
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo of Reuel Colt Gridley, who became famous in the United States in 1864 by repeatedly selling a sack of flour to raise money for the "Sanitary Fund" (to help wounded U.S. Civil War veterans). This picture was reportedly published in Harper's Weekly in 1865.
context_page_description: A flour sack, feed sack, or flour bag is a cloth sack, usually made of cheap cotton, used to store flour or animal feed. Flour sacks are often printed with simple designs and trademarks to indicate the millers and companies making or selling the flour. Many regions of the world reuse the sacks to produce clothing and household linens.
context_section_description: Reuel Colt Gridley famously carried a 50-pound bag of flour on his shoulder after losing a political bet in Austin, Nevada. The sack of flour was later auctioned off, then re-donated, then re-auctioned again and again to raise money for the United States Sanitary Commission during the American Civil War. Auctioning this single flour sack eventually raised more than $250,000.
caption: A photo of Reuel Colt Gridley, who became famous in the United States in 1864 by repeatedly selling a sack of flour to raise money for the "Sanitary Fund" (to help wounded U.S. Civil War veterans). This picture was reportedly published in Harper's Weekly in 1865.
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