Reuel Colt Gridley (January 23, 1829 – November 24, 1870) was an American storekeeper who gained nationwide attention in 1864, when he repeatedly auctioned a plain sack of flour and raised over for the

United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private Aid agency, relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the Ameri ...

, which provided aid to wounded

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

soldiers.

Background

Gridley went to school in

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Ma ...

, where he befriended

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. He later fought in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

. In 1864, Gridley supported the Democratic candidate for mayor in

Austin, Nevada Austin is an unincorporated small town in, and former county seat of, Lander County, Nevada, United States. In 2020, the census-designated place of Austin had a population of 167. It is located on the western slopes of the Toiyabe Range at an ...

, where he operated a grocery store. He made a bet with a Republican friend that the loser would carry a fifty-pound sack of flour through the town. He performed his punishment with the accompaniment of the town band, and at the end someone offered that the sack should be auctioned off to raise money for the ''Sanitary Fund'', a new organization that aided disabled Civil War veterans. After finally selling for $250, the winning bidder did not take the sack, but donated it back to Gridley to be auctioned off again. It was auctioned repeatedly until over $8,000 was raised. When nearby

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boomt ...

heard of the event (and where young newspaper editor

was working at the time), they invited Gridley to come there, which he did. He then traveled to California where San Franciscans donated $2800 and Sacramento citizens donated $10000, before heading to St. Louis and the major eastern cities. These bidders added around $170,000 to the Sanitary Commission's fund, and within twelve months Gridley had more than $250,000 with his sack of flour.Andersen, Jim
Lost in Austin: A Nevada Memoir
p.11-12, 18 (2009) ()Lea, Ralph & Kennedy, Christi (1 October 2005)
Reuel Gridley and a sack of flour
''

Lodi News-Sentinel The ''Lodi News-Sentinel'' is a daily newspaper based in Lodi, California, United States, and serving northern San Joaquin and southern Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorp ...

''(25 August 1871)
Another Benefactor Gone
''Peninsula Courier'' (reprinted from the ''Jackson Daily Citizen'')Wier, Jeanne Elizabeth
The celebration of Nevada's semicentennial of statehood
p.31-35 (1917)Hunt, Aurora
The Army of the Pacific
p.324-35 (2004) Twain told the story of the Gridley flour sack in his 1872 book ''

Roughing It ''Roughing It'' is a book of semi- autobiographical travel literature by Mark Twain. It was written in 1870–71 and published in 1872, as a prequel to his first travel book '' The Innocents Abroad'' (1869). ''Roughing It'' is dedicated to ...

''.Twain, Mark
Roughing It
p.314-20 (1872)Kaplan, Fred
The Singular Mark Twain: A Biography
p.116-17 (2005) () Gridley Store1

In 1866, Gridley moved to Stockton, California, and was in poor health; he died in 1870.

Legacy

In Austin, Gridley's store still stands and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. In 1887, the "Reuel Colt Gridley Monument" was dedicated in Stockton's Rural Cemetery, depicting Gridley standing next to a large sack of flour.McAndrews, James, Jr. (26 May 2004)
How a lost bet and a sack of flour raised hundreds of thousands of dollars
''Modesto Bee'' In 1965, the monument was registered as a historical landmark by the state of California.Reuel Colt Gridley Monument listing
''California State Parks'', Retrieved May 27, 2011

References

External links

Section of Mark Twain's Roughing It on Gridley

Text of Nevada Historic Markers in Lander County: Reuel Colt Gridley

Reuel Colt Gridley Monument
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gridley, Reuel Colt 1829 births 1870 deaths People from Lander County, Nevada People from Stockton, California United States Sanitary Commission people Charity fundraisers (people)