Before I get into today's quest, I just wanted to extend my thanks to St. John's Episcopal Church of York. That's the place where the York Liberty Bell is housed, and they shared the link to my post in their latest e-newsletter. I really appreciate that and I hope the congregation enjoyed reading the article!
As some of my longtime readers might recall, I'm an occasional volunteer with FindAGrave.com. In recent weeks, through our mutual work on that site, I unexpectedly made contact with my distant cousin Ron Bauerle. Ron, according to his researches, is my mother's eighth cousin through her father's line; like us, he's descended from Philip Kratzer, one of the earliest settlers of Emmaus. Much to my surprise and delight, he checked out this blog and offered to send me pictures of markers from his home county, which I gladly accepted since who the heck knows when I'll be able to go there myself. So thanks to his contributions, today we're going to learn about a sailor in the Spanish-American War, and the origin of a certain well-known military catchphrase of the time.
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| The marker sits on East Lake Road at the entrance to Lakeside Cemetery. Image courtesy of Ron Bauerle. |
Of course, none of this is Pennsylvania either. Gridley came to the Commonwealth in 1871, by which time he had been promoted to lieutenant commander. From 1871 to 1875, he was stationed on the Michigan, which was the only United States Navy ship based on the Great Lakes at the time; this was, of course, on Lake Erie in Erie. During this time he married Harriet Vincent, the daughter of a local judge; they had at least two children, Katherine and John. Gridley continued to rise through the naval ranks with distinction, serving as an instructor at the Naval Academy and in the Cruiser Training Squadron, and was finally named a captain in 1897.
In 1897, the Spanish-American war broke out, and Gridley was sent off to the Asiatic squadron. He joined the crew of the Olympia, stationed in Yokohama, Japan, under the command of Commodore George Dewey. Dewey, like Gridley, was a veteran of the Civil War; from everything I've read, they got along famously and Dewey had tremendous respect for Gridley. In fact, based on a firsthand account from a crew member, everyone on the Olympia had tremendous respect for him, The crewman described him as "Captain Gridley, beloved alike by officers and men". Together, the two celebrated officers led the Olympia's forces in what is known as the Battle of Manila Bay.
I honestly don't remember ever learning much about the Spanish-American War in history classes, so before I wrote about it I wanted to be able to understand it. Apparently Spain and the United States were at odds regarding the Cuban War of Independence, and this led to the sinking of the USS Maine - I do remember the name of that ship - in January 1898, killing 261 sailors. War was declared two months later, and it was determined that one of the first and most important steps to ensure victory was to deal with the Spanish Pacific Squadron. They were stationed in the Philippines, in Manila Bay, so the great Dewey was dispatched to lead the Asiatic Squadron to victory. The Battle of Manila Bay was the first major conflict of the war, and took place on the first of May.
It was just the Olympia and a couple of smaller support warships taking on the Spanish fleet, but the Spanish vessels were very outdated and didn't stand much of a chance. During the battle, Gridley took up position inside the armored conning tower of the ship, which was uncomfortable enough on an ordinary day; in the heat of the Philippines, it was brutal. Worse, Gridley was suffering from dysentery and, it was later learned, may very well have had liver cancer, so he was sick as a dog. Dewey really wanted to relieve him of his post, but he insisted on remaining, and Dewey respected him too much to defy his wishes.
Instead, Dewey issued an order which is still sometimes used in common parlance today. "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." (It usually gets shortened nowadays to "You may fire when ready.")
Fire he did. The American forces won the battle soundly. On the Spanish side, six ships were sunk and two more scuttled; 77 were killed, 271 wounded. On the American side, one of the attending warships was damaged, but none were sunk or scuttled, and only nine men were wounded. None were killed, although one man did die of a heart attack. There's some debate about whether these numbers are accurate, however, since there was also a report of 155 American sailors allegedly deserting during the battle, and it's been suggested that this report may have been Dewey's way of concealing greater numbers of injured or killed. We'll never know.
We do know, though, that Gridley was in no shape to celebrate the victory when he finally emerged from the conning tower. He was overheated, exhausted, and very very sick. A few weeks after the battle, in May, it was decided that he needed to step down and be sent home; he was given a beautiful friendly send-off by Dewey and the crew of the Olympia, complete with the band playing and several officers singing. Gridley was transferred to a ship called the Zafiro, which took him to meet the commercial steamer Coptic on May 27th. However, his condition began to decline severely once aboard the Zafiro; he had to be transferred to the Coptic on a stretcher, and in his personal writings he expressed his belief that "I think I am done for it, personally." He was right, and he died aboard the Coptic on June 5, 1898, while the ship was in Kobe, Japan.
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| Charles Gridley's grave in Lakeside Cemetery, Erie. Image courtesy of Ron Bauerle. |
Gridley's son John was only eighteen when his father died, and he too pursued a military life, becoming a Marine. In a sad postscript to his father's story, the younger Gridley was interred in Lakeside Cemetery just a few years later in 1904. He was serving aboard the USS Missouri off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, which suffered an explosion in her rear turret; John was one of 36 men killed in the disaster. He was 24 years old, unmarried, no children.
As for the Olympia, in whose conning tower Gridley had his great victory, she's still around. She's one of only two ships left from World War I and is the oldest steel warship still afloat in the world. After her service in the Spanish-American War, she was part of the Northern Expedition and also provided humanitarian aid during the flu epidemic in Europe in the 1910s. Her final mission was to bring the American Unknown Soldier of World War I home from France to be entombed in Arlington National Cemetery. Today, she's part of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. She even has her own Facebook page.
Sometimes the hardest thing about writing these blog posts is figuring out how to end them. But I think the most interesting thing about writing them is that I'm learning all sorts of things I had no idea I didn't know.
Sources and Further Reading:
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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