Anna Warner Bailey

Background

Anna was boen in October 1758 in Groton, Connecticut. She was an orphan, and was brought up in the family of her uncle Edward Mills.

Career

On the day of the battle of Groton Heights, September 6, 1781, she missed her relative, and walked from the farm to the scene of fighting. How she found her uncle who was desperately wounded, how she returned to the farm and conducted the wife and children to the bedside of the dying man, became one of the cherished stories of the period. In the War of 1812 "Mother Bailey" again appeared on the scene. In the summer of 1813 the British fleet was off the coast of Connecticut, blockading Commodore Decatur's vessels, and raiding or threatening attacks upon the towns. Among the soldiers at Groton who had assembled for the defense of the coast, there was a shortage of flannel, which was needed in those days as wadding for cartridges. In partial remedy for this need, Mrs. Bailey contributed her flannel petticoat, and the "martial petticoat" has become celebrated in song and story.

Achievements

• A local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution bears her name.

Connections

She married Captain Elijah Bailey, the postmaster.

Uncle:

Edward Mills

husband:

Captain Elijah Bailey

References

• The Battle of Groton Heights: A Story of the Storming of Fort Griswold, and the Burning of New London, on the Sixth of September, 1781
• History of New London: Connecticut; From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1860; With a Memoir of the Author (Classic Reprint)