Captain C.V. Gridley
Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Grave of Captain Gridley, commander of Dewey's flagship Olympia in the Battle of Manila Bay, 1898, is located in this cemetery. Dewey's order, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," opened the battle.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the spring of 1898 the Spanish-American War carried the U.S. Navy across the Pacific to the Spanish-held Philippines. At Manila Bay, Commodore George Dewey's squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in a single morning, and his calm words to the captain of his flagship Olympia became one of the most quoted commands in American naval lore. That captain, Charles Vernon Gridley, was already gravely ill and died weeks later; he rests in this Erie cemetery.
Why it matters
Manila Bay announced the United States as a Pacific naval power, and Gridley's grave ties a small Pennsylvania port to a turning point in America's rise as an overseas empire.
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Related people
- · Charles Vernon Gridley
- · George Dewey
Related events
- · Battle of Manila Bay
Themes & tags
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Charles Vernon Gridley Monument
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This Erie monument honors a hometown son whose steady nerve gave the U.S. Navy one of its most quoted commands. Charles Vernon Gridley captained the cruiser USS Olympia into Manila Bay in May 1898, where Commodore George Dewey turned to him with the now-legendary order, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." The guns that followed shattered the Spanish Pacific squadron in a matter of hours, a decisive opening blow of the Spanish-American War. Gridley, already gravely ill, died weeks later before he could return home to Erie.
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