Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely Newburyport and Arctic Exploration

Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely  
The Greely Expedition English Subtitled Documentary

(March 27, 1844 – October 20, 1935) Born in Newburport Massachusetts American Polar explorer, United States Army officer, Recipient of the Medal of Honor. Two articles on Greeley
Disaster at Lady Franklin Bay US Naval Institute Sailing onward  article from Newburyport News Dyke Henderson

Naval History Magazine - August 2010 Volume 24, Number 4

An all-day celebration including a parade, reception, and fireworks, welcomed Adolphus Greely back home to Newburyport after his Lady Franklin Bay Arctic expedition. Arches, bearing appropriate mottoes, were placed across State Street, Prospect Street, and in front of City hall. The arch at the top of State Street is shown in this photograph. Displayed on either side are the names of the two ships, Thetis and Bear, that rescued the expedition's survivors. - Courtesy photoNewburyport Daily News

From Custom House Maritime Museum Newburyport MA

Prospect Street Home where Adolphus was born

Alolophus with family 1887

78 High Street Newburyport  Land bought in 1807 by Anthony Davenport and the house built soon afterward, passing in 1838 to his daughter, Mrs. Samuel T. DeFord. It remained in this family until 1871 when bought by John A. Greeley, John Balch Greely and Frances Dunn Cobb and brother to Adolphus.

From History of Essex County Volume 2 edited by Duane Hamilton Hurd

Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely a native of the city followed by the public reception which was accorded him. As heroic and daring as were the deeds of the sons of Newburyport during the Revolution and the War of 1842 none exceeded the exploits of this young man who illustrated by his patience his fidelity his indomitable courage in the frozen regions of the North the lines of the poet that Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war It is doubtful whether in all the trying scenes through which our country has passed of fire and battle and flood the hearts of the American people have been touched by a tenderer sympathy or a sweeter joy than the discovery of that little band heroic men of which he was the devoted leader their gallant rescue excited.

Adolphus Washington Greely was born in Newburyport March 27 1844.

His early education obtained at the public schools Though fond study and ambitious to receive a collegiate education he was precluded from his wished for career by circumstances which it was impossible for him to control and at the age of seventeen he entered as clerk jewelry store of Fairbanks & Paul in his native city and seemed likely to pursue the devious and uncertain path of a business life.

Six months later however war broke out and among the volunteers for years service he was one of the earliest to his name He enlisted as private in the Byfield Rangers who were afterwards assigned as Company B to the Nineteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers under the command of Colonel Edward W Hincks.

Having speedily reached the position orderly sergeant he felt that he was worthy of a commission He was as brave as the bravest and never thought of danger in the performance of his duty Though immersed in the surroundings of war life it is significant both of his literary taste and utter fearlessness that on one occasion when going into a battle he was more concerned about the fate a scrap cut from a newspaper laid aside to be read than about the dangers of the contest which he was about to enter.......

          

             The Greely Expedition to the North Pole, 01 June 1822.

Naval History & Heritage Command - Commander Winfield Schley was put in charge of the 1884 Greely Relief Expedition, which the Secretary of the Navy wholeheartedly embraced as an opportunity to buttress the sea service's standing in the public eye.

The Crew Greely Expedition National Archives 

     

     

Discovery Harbour, Ellesmere Island, Quttinirpaaq National Park, Nunavut, Canada, skinning a seal. [Greely Expedition Photograph]
  

Lt. Edward Israel, from Greely Expedition photo, 1881.

 

From James Booth Lockwood (1852 -1884)

"The Greeley Arctic Exploration Exhibit, Government Building World's Fair, Chicago, USA"

From Greely Expedition Survivors (cabinet card photograph) contributed by: Samuel B Sharpe

SOLEMN FUNERAL SERVICES AT GOVERNOR'S ISLAND AND CYPRESS HILLS
Great Anxiety for the Explorers-Their Chances of Obtaining Provisions

Arrival of the Arctic Heroes at Portsmouth, N. H. Extremely touching meeting, after the long separation, between Lieutenant Greely and his loving wife.

The Greely Arctic Expedition as Fully Narrated by Lieut. Greely and Other Survivors: Commander Schley's Report. Wonderful Discoveries by Lieut. Greeley and His Little Band of Heroes 
    

The Greely Arctic expedition as fully narrated by Lieut. Greely, U.S.A., and other survivors. Full account of the terrible sufferings on the ice
Chances for Arctic Survival: Greely's Expedition Revisited
Elisha Kent Kane Historical SocietyAbandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884
The Biggest Chill
William Henry Whistler and the Lady Franklin Bay (Greely) Expedition, 1881-1884: Published Accounts and Transcriptions of Whistler's Writings

Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition
CHRISTMAS IN THE ARCTIC
Fire & Ice: Adolphus W. Greely  
USNS General A.W. Greely
The Adolphus W. Greely Papers
Greely Expedition BS Series