Annie Glud - "Drummer Boy" with General Ulysses S. Grant

[Glud gravesite photo by Michael Colbruno; "Drummer Boy" from Oakland Tribune]

Plot 13

Annie Glud became famous in 1921 when she revealed that she was drummer boy Tom Hundley, who marched with Ulysses S. Grant and the Union forces. Glud enlisted with the Union forces disguised as a boy and only Grant and Glud’s father knew of her secret.

Glud participated in two of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, those at Richmond and Gettysburg. Two of Glud’s brothers fought for the Union forces and her other two brothers fought for the Confederate forces.

Over the years, Glud regularly participated in the annual Armistice Day parades in Oakland and kept the drum until her death.

Glud made news two other times in her life, the first time again performing “the work of a man." In 1897, she joined a group of women for a two week search for gold in Shasta County. A year before the excursion Glud had discovered an old mine on her ranch just north of Redding. According to newspaper accounts, “Mrs. Glud told her friends about it, and she persuaded six of them to go prospecting in the vicinity…Each woman put on bloomers, rough boots, leggings, a man’s working shirt and a black slouch hat. Around their waists they strapped canteens and pans and on their shoulders they carried picks and shovels.”

In 1921, Glud again made news when she donated a historic cinnamon bear to President Warren G. Harding which was carved out of redwood by James Marshall, one of the discoverers of gold in California. According to the Oakland Tribune, “A letter offering the bear to the President was sent some weeks ago and has just been answered by the President, carrying his appreciation of the memento and accepting the gift.”