View source for Charles Vernon Gridley

{{Short description|American captain (1844–1898)}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Charles Vernon Gridley
|image=Charles Vernon Gridley (USS Olympia).jpg
|caption=
|birth_date={{birth date|1844|11|24}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1898|06|05|1844|11|24}}
|birth_place=[[Logansport, Indiana]], U.S.
|death_place=[[Kobe, Hyōgo]], Japan
|placeofburial=Lakeside Cemetery, [[Erie, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|placeofburial_label=
|nickname=
|allegiance=United States
|branch=[[United States Navy]]
|serviceyears=1860–1898
|rank=[[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]]
|unit=
|commands=[[USS Michigan (1843)|USS ''Michigan'']]<br>{{USS|Olympia|C-6|6}}
|battles=[[American Civil War]]
* Operations in Mobile Bay
** [[Battle of Mobile Bay]]
[[Spanish–American War]]
*Pacific Theater
** [[Battle of Manila Bay]]
|awards=
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Charles Vernon Gridley''' (24 November 1844 – 5 June 1898) was a captain in the [[United States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]] and the [[Spanish–American War]]. 

==Early life==
Gridley descended from Thomas Gridley (1612–1653), who emigrated from England to New England in 1633. He was born to Frank and Ann Eliza (Sholes) Gridley in [[Logansport, Indiana]], on 24 November 1844.<ref name="DANFS">{{Cite DANFS |title=USS Gridley |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/g/gridley-i.html|accessdate=11 January 2017}}</ref> His parents moved to [[Hillsdale, Michigan]], when he was three months old.

==Naval career==
===Early life and career===
After attending [[Hillsdale College]],<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.gordongridley.us/docs/CharlesVernonGridley.doc |title=Charles Vernon Gridley|first=Gordon |last=Gridley |work=gordongridley.us |year=2012 |accessdate=9 August 2013}}</ref> Gridley was appointed to the [[United States Naval Academy]] in 1860.<ref name="DANFS"/> He reported for duty with his class in September 1863, joining the [[sloop-of-war]] {{USS|Oneida|1861|2}} with the [[West Gulf Blockading Squadron]]. He distinguished himself with [[David Farragut]] at the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]] on 5 August 1864.<ref name="DANFS"/>

Gridley was promoted to [[lieutenant]] in 1867 and [[lieutenant commander]] on March 12, 1868.<ref name="DANFS" /> He was stationed from 1871 to 1875 on the only United States Navy ship based on the [[Great Lakes]] at the time, the {{USS|Michigan|1843|2}}, at [[Erie, Pennsylvania]]. While stationed in Erie, he married Harriet, the daughter of Judge John P. Vincent and had three children. Harriet was also a cousin of Civil War hero [[Strong Vincent|Brigadier General Strong Vincent]]. Gridley was promoted to [[commander (United States)|commander]] in 1882.  He also served a tour as instructor at the Naval Academy and another with the Cruiser Training Squadron.

Gridley was promoted to captain on March 14, 1897, and ordered to the Asiatic squadron and was assigned on July 28, 1897, to the command of the {{USS|Olympia|C-6|2}}, Commodore [[George Dewey]]'s famous [[flagship]] in [[Yokohama, Japan]]. 

===Battle of Manila Bay===
During the [[Battle of Manila Bay]] on 1 May 1898, Gridley commanded the ''Olympia'' from inside the vessel's armored conning tower, an uncomfortably hot station in the Philippine sun. Dewey gave his famous command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley".<ref name="DANFS" /> At the conclusion of the battle, Gridley was not in a condition to celebrate, suffering from dysentery and what appears to have been liver cancer. The heat and stress of the conning tower further weakened him. Dewey would have relieved him of command had not Gridley protested.

===Last days===
Several weeks later, he was sent home. On May 25, Gridley was to begin his journey home. One crewman recorded the event as follows:
<blockquote>
He came up out of his cabin dressed in civilian clothes and was met by the rear admiral [[George Dewey|Dewey]] who extended him a most cordial hand. A look of troubled disappointment flitted across the captain's brow, but vanished when he stepped to the head of the gangway and, looking, over saw, not the launch, but a twelve-oared cutter manned entirely by officers of the ''Olympia''. There were men in the boat who had not pulled a stroke for a quarter of a century. [[US Flag|Old Glory]] was at the stern and a captain's silken coach-whip at the bow; and when Captain Gridley, beloved alike by officers and men, entered the boat, it was up oars, and all that, just as though they were common sailors who were to row him over to the ''Zafiro.'' When he sat down upon the handsome boat-cloth that was spread for him, he bowed his head, and his hands hid his face as First-Lieutenant Reese, acting [[coxswain]], ordered, 'Shove off; out oars; give away!' Later in the day the lookout on the bridge reported, ' ''Zafiro'' under way sir,' and the deck officer passed on the word until a little twitter from Pat Murray's pipe brought all the other bo's'ns around him, and in concert they sang out, 'Stand by to man the rigging!' Not the ''Olympia'' alone, but every other ship in the squadron dressed and manned, and the last we ever saw of our dear captain he was sitting on a chair out on the ''Zafiro''{{'s}} quarter-deck, apparently listening to the [''Olympia's''] old band play.
</blockquote>

Gridley was physically spent, and his health began to sink even faster once he was finally released from the strain of command. He was transferred from the ''Zafiro'' to the commercial steamer ''[[SS Coptic (1881)|Coptic]]'' on May 27, but he had to be taken aboard on a stretcher. He knew that his condition was grave and wrote simply, "I think I am done for it, personally."

===Death and burial===
Aboard the ''Coptic'', on June 5, 1898, Gridley died while the vessel was in Kobe, Japan.<ref name="DANFS" />

His body was cremated and sent home. Services were held in Erie, Pennsylvania's Cathedral of St. Paul. He was buried in Erie's Lakeside Cemetery.  A cenotaph was erected in his memory at Oak Grove Cemetery in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Gridley was a member of the Empire State Society of the [[Sons of the American Revolution]].

==Legacy==
[[File:Gridleymon.jpg|thumb|Gridley Monument in Erie, Pennsylvania]]
[[USS Gridley|Four ships]] in the United States Navy have been named for him.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg101/Pages/namesake.aspx |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130627090815/http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg101/Pages/namesake.aspx |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 27, 2013 |title=Named for Captain Charles Vernon Gridley |publisher=United States Navy |year=2013 |accessdate=9 August 2013}}</ref>

A monument to Gridley was erected in Erie and placed in the center of a city park, which was named [[List of city parks of Erie, Pennsylvania|Gridley Park]]. The engraved plaque affixed to the monument is made of a metal panel retrieved from the {{USS|Maine|ACR-1|2}}.The USS Olympia is at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia

A [[seashell]] is depicted on the [[coat-of-arms]] of Gridley's original [[alma mater]], [[Hillsdale College]], in honor of his heroism at the [[Battle of Manila Bay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hillsdale.edu/about/history/ |title=Coat of Arms |publisher=Hillsdale College |year=2013 |accessdate=9 August 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}

*[[USS Olympia (C-6)|USS ''Olympia'' (C-6)]]
*[[George Dewey]]
*[[Battle of Manila Bay]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g8/gridley-i.htm }}{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

==External links==
* {{cite journal |journal=American History |url=http://www.historynet.com/us-navy-captain-charles-gridley-and-the-battle-of-manila-bay.htm |title=U.S. Navy Captain Charles Gridley and the Battle of Manila Bay |first=Richard |last=Harris |date=February 1998}}
* {{cite web |url= http://phillyseapo.web713.discountasp.net/images/Gridley_Collection-PhillySeaport.pdf |title=Guide to the Gridley Collection |publisher=[[Independence Seaport Museum]]}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gridley, Charles Vernon}}
[[Category:1844 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:Union Navy officers]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of the Spanish–American War]]
[[Category:United States Naval Academy alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:People of Michigan in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People from Logansport, Indiana]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Hillsdale College alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Sons of the American Revolution]]