Richard Gridley (January 3, 1710 – June 21, 1796) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a soldier and engineer who served for the British Army during the French and Indian Wars and for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Gridley was a military engineer during the French and Indian Wars from the reduction of Fortress Louisbourg in 1745 to the fall of Quebec. For his services he was awarded a commission in the British Army, a grant of the Magdalen Islands, 3,000 acres (12 km²) of land in New Hampshire, and a life annuity.

He sided with the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War and was made Chief Engineer in the New England Provincial Army. He laid out the defenses on Breed's Hill and was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

When the Continental Congress first created a Continental Army under command of George Washington in 1775 he was named to Chief Engineer (artillery). He directed the construction of the fortifications on Dorchester Heights which forced the British to evacuate Boston in March 1776. When Washington moved his Army south, Gridley remained as Chief Engineer of the New England Department.

He retired in 1781 at age 70. He died in Stoughton, Massachusetts and is buried in Canton, Massachusetts at the Canton Corner Cemetery.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers considers Gridley 'America's First Chief Engineer.'

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

References

1710 births | 1796 deaths | Continental Army officers

Richard Gridley