Caroline Gray, Civil War Nurse “She Took Care of our Union Boys”

By: Jim Davis - Abingdon Historical Society

Caroline Gray, nee Pollock, the daughter of John and Mary Jackson Pollock, was born in Green County, Ohio on March 5, 1834. She enlisted into the U.S. Army services as a Civil War nurse at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri in 1862. Benton Barracks was a Union Army encampment established during the Civil War on the present site of the St. Louis Fairgrounds Park. Before the Civil War the St. Louis Agriculture and Mechanical Association owned the grounds on the outskirts of St. Louis.

When Major General John C. Fremont took over the command of the Western Department of the war for the Union Army, he ordered the building of a training facility to be located at the St. Louis Fairgrounds. Named Benton Barracks, the compound started with five buildings 740 feet in length and forty feet in width. An additional two-story building was erected as the headquarters for the barracks commander. The compound would accommodate 30,000 soldiers. By 1863 over a mile of barracks had been constructed with additional warehouses, calvary stables, and parade grounds. Benton Barracks was used primarily as a training facility for the Union Army soldiers attached to the Western Theater. Shortly after the battle of Lexington an army post and convalescent hospital were added to the ground to assist in treating the hundreds of wounded troops mainly from the Western Theater. The large military hospital had been converted from an old amphitheater on the fairgrounds. The hospital could treat 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers at a time. The hospital, the largest in the Western Theater, was administered by Emily Elizabeth Parson who Caroline worked with in the care of sick and wounded soldiers. Following the end of the conflict between the states the barracks and hospital were demolished, and the ground returned to the pre-war as the fairgrounds and race track. Nothing remains of the original buildings at the site today.

While serving her country Caroline met and married Jerome B. Gray on April 23, 1863. To this union six children were born. She and her husband returned to Abingdon at the conclusion of the war.

Caroline died at the home of her son, Henry, and Galesburg on February 20, 1929. The funeral was held on Friday February 22nd at 2:30 pm in the First Congregational Church under the direction of Reverend Frank J. Brown. The music was provided by a male quartet of Carl J. Johnson, John Shaw, William H Palmer, and Leonard Leming. They were accompanied by Florence Irene Young on the organ. The flowers were arranged by Mrs. Fannie B. Swisher, Miss Emma Yates, and Miss Minnie Moore, members of the Harry E. Wiles American Legion Post 381 of Abingdon, Harry Pease, Ora E. Ray, W. Guy Dunlap, Lawrence Y. Bird, Joseph Howard, and Clarence Quiggins served as pall bearers. She was interred in the Abington cemetery.

Her husband and three daughters preceded her in death. She was survived by two daughters, Mrs. Mary C. Morris of Galesburg and Mrs. Hattie E. Cates of Missoula, Montana and one son Harry of Galesburg. One granddaughter, Mrs. Helen Bradley of Chicago and many nephews and nieces also survived her.

Mrs. Gray was an honorary member of the Ladies Circle of the G. A. R. Post 58 of Abingdon, the Relief Corps, and the First Congregational Church of Abingdon.

Sources

The Abingdon Kodak, Tuesday February 26, 1929.