Memorial event today (10/05/26) at 9 AM on the Town Common Veterans Walkway to honor Edward L. Grant.
This program will include the placing of a Memorial Wreath for the day, the playing of Taps, a salute from those present, and a reading of whatever history may be available for that veteran. This is a way of keeping the memory of that veteran alive.
Edward L. Grant, Captain U.S. Army WWI
Edward Leslie Grant was born May 21, 1883, in Franklin of Mr. & Mrs. G.H. Grant. He graduated from Franklin public schools, later going to Dean Academy where he distinguished himself in baseball.
After graduation in 1902, he studied law at Harvard University, attaining his Law Degree, and played professional baseball during the summers. With Jersey City in 1906 he led the Eastern League with a .322 average. Eddie enjoyed his finest season in 1909, batting .269 as Philadelphia's leadoff hitter and finishing second in the National League with 170 hits.
Before a double-header against the Giants that year, he supposedly found a domino with 7 white spots. As the story goes, in joking with his teammates that the domino was an omen, that he would have seven hits that day. Eddie went 5 for 5 against Christy Matthewson in the first game, and batted safely in his first two at bats in the night cap. The 7 consecutive hits are believed to be a National League record.
After playing for the Philadelphia Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, and finally, the NY Giants, he decided to retire in 1916 when he was 32 years old. He intended to develop his Boston law practice. This lasted only about a year. When the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, be became the major leaguer to enlist.
After 4 months of training in New York, he was commissioned as Captain of Company H of the 307th Infantry Regiment and trained at Camp Upton on Long Island with the troops he would lead.
Arriving in France as part of the American Expeditionary Force, Grant's division saw some combat before being assigned to the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the great final American drive of the war.
On October 2, 1918, the 307th Regiment launched an attack on the the Argonne forest, a rugged heavily wooded area with thick underbrush, deep ravines and marshes. His regiment was part of the command trying to rescue Whittlesey's Lost Battalion.
On October 5th, Eddie Grant was exhausted. He hadn't slept since the beginning of the offensive, and some fellow officers noticed him sitting on a stump with a cup of coffee in front of him, too weak to lift it.
One of his troops, a former policeman on the Polo Grounds in NY remembered the following:
"On the morning the relief was affected, Eddie was dog-tired, but he stepped off at the head of his outfit. He staggered from weakness, and he was suffering from bronchitis, but he wouldn't go to the hospital until he was relieved. He stepped off at the head of his company, marching with his head up. On the was through the forest, fighting at every step, Grant came across stretcher bearers, carrying his commander Major Jay who had been wounded. Jay called to Grant to "take command of the battalion." Eddie was one of the few officers left. The Major had hardly spoken those words when a shell came through the trees dropping 2 of Grant's lieutenants. While ordering his men to take cover, he called for more stretcher bearers for his lieutenants. He was calling and waving his hands when a shell struck him. It was a direct hit. The remaining officers and men of the company said Eddie's conduct during the battle was marvelous. He never slept, always moving forward."
Today he is remembered as the first and most prominent major leaguer to be killed in combat in WWI.
He was buried near where he fell and later removed to the Romagne Cemetery where he rests today.
A monument in Grant's honor was unveiled at the Polo Grounds on Memorial Day in 1921, the baseball field at Dean bears his name as does Franklin's American Legion Post.
Edward L Grant was one of Franklin's most worthy sons, winning honor for himself, his unit, his country, and reflecting credit on the town of his birth.
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