Mother Bailey

DURING THE WAR of 1812, a number of naval engagements and minor maritime skirmishes in New England coastal waters kept people in the port towns in an almost continuous state of watchful agitation. This was especially true in the Groton-New London area, where there were many still living who remembered those terrible days of September, 1781, when British forces under Benedict Arnold took them by surprise, captured Fort Griswold in a bloody battle and then burned and sacked New London. They knew that the enemy was perfectly capable of doing an encore performance. Meanwhile, up at Fort Griswold, the men who were feverishly preparing the ancient cannons for action against the British ran into a serious snag. They informed Major Smith, their commanding officer, that there was an acute shortage of gun wadding on hand, and that unless a lot more of the flannel cloth used to load the cannon could be found immediately, the guns would be next to useless. Smith quickly formed a search party and ordered the men to scour Groton for anything they could find in the way of yard-goods to use for wadding. But since the hour was late, all the stores were closed and most of the homes, whether occupied or not, were locked up tight.
Finally, however, a couple of searchers knocked on the door of a house on Thames Street where Anna Warner Bailey lived. Mrs. Bailey actually answered the frantic summons and listened intently as the men quickly explained their mission. No sooner had they reached the urgent plea for cloth -- any kind of cloth -- to stuff the guns at Griswold, than the feisty Bailey dropped her red flannel petticoat to the ground at their feet, exclaiming, "Give this to the British at the cannon's mouth. There are plenty more where this one came from." The men did not wait, however, for more samples of Mrs. Bailey's patriotic spirit, hastening back to Fort Griswold with the scarlet undergarment held high in triumph.
Soon Mrs. Bailey's "Martial Petticoat" was hoisted on a pikestaff and planted on the ramparts by the troops, their morale lifted by the lady's unique contribution to the war effort and their resolve hardened by her fighting spirit. As it turned out, the soldiers' petticoat fever was spread in vain, because fortunately, no cannon had to be fired this time around. After several days of sailing about menacingly in Long Island Sound, the British ships apparently thought better of entering the harbor and dropped from view below the horizon.
Within a very short time, the story of Mrs. Bailey's lowered petticoat had raised the Groton lady from obscurity to stardom. With her slip on everyone's lips, Anna Bailey not only picked up the affectionate nickname "Mother," but she was also the guest-of-honor at a gala ball given by Commodore Decatur to celebrate the American "victory" in the non-engagement with the British. By the end of the war, hardly a soul in the United States had failed to hear of Mother Bailey's generous gesture.
Over the years no politician, from selectman to President, could pass through Groton without paying his respects to the intrepid matron. And come they did: President James Monroe, General Lafayette, on his tour of the United States, and President Andrew Jackson, to present an iron fence for the west side of her house as a token of appreciation. If there had been TV in those days, Mother Bailey would have been interviewed on all the talk shows, maybe even invited to the White House, such was her lasting fame. Apparently all the adulation agreed with her, because Mother Bailey lived to a ripe old age; she died in 1851 at age ninety-two.

from Legendary Connecticut by David E. Philips / ISBN 1-880684-05-5 / $17.95

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