Orders, Decorations and Medals

From the Polar Collection of Glenn M. Stein, F.R.G.S.

The historic Orders, Decorations and Medals, related documentation and artefacts appertaining to Brigadier-General D. L. Brainard, United States Army, a veteran of the Indian Wars who became the senior N.C.O. and last survivor of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition 1881-84, the first example of America’s participation in an international Arctic initiative: having achieved a “farthest north” record in a three-man sledging party in March 1882, his courage, example and leadership proved instrumental in the eventual rescue of the expedition’s survivors in June 1884, the intervening period having witnessed cannibalism, mutiny and the execution of a Private soldier for theft - but Brainard, who was among those ordered to draw lots to fire the fatal shot, noted in his journal that ‘Our own condition is so wretched, so palpably miserable, that death would be welcomed rather than feared ... ’

The Honours and Awards:

United States of America, Purple Heart, the edge officially numbered ‘29069’ and the reverse offically engraved, ‘David L. Brainard’, split-brooch suspension with reverse pin for wearing, with lower part of its box of issue bearing a printed label, ‘The Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co., Phila., Quartermaster Depot, 2-12-32, Purple Heart Medal No. 29069’, this latter number written in ink; Indian Wars Campaign Medal, the edge officially numbered ‘527’, first style riband, wrap-round suspension brooch with reverse pin for wearing; Spanish-American War Campaign Medal 1898, the edge officially numbered ‘137’, second style riband, split-brooch suspension with reverse pin for wearing; Philippine Insurrection Medal 1899, the edge officially numbered ‘231’, wrap-round suspension brooch with reverse pin for wearing; American Victory Medal, slide-on clasp, France, wrap-round suspension brooch with reverse pin for wearing; French Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Portuguese Military Order of Christ, Grand Officer’s set of insignia, by Da Costa, Lisbon, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star, silver-gilt, enamelled centre, together with related riband bar; Portuguese Order of Avis, (Grand Officer’s) neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; American Explorers Club Medal, bronze, 53mm. by 80mm., by The Medallic Art Co., New York, awarded in 1929, obverse an explorer standing on a plinth, with club title above, reverse with unique officially engraved inscription, ‘To David Legge Brainard, Soldier and Explorer, Who, On May 13, 1882, With Lieut. James B. Lockwood, U.S.A., Fellow Member of the International Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Under First Lieut. A. W. Greely, U.S.A., Reached Latitude 83 24’ 30”, The Most Northerly Point Attained Up To That Time In Arctic Exploration’; American Explorers Club, Medal for the Fifth Anniversary of Peary’s North Pole Discovery 1909-1914, bronze, 53mm. by 80mm., by Tiffany & Co., with identical obverse design to the last, upon the plinth of which is officially engraved, ‘David L. Brainard’, and the impressed date, ‘April 6th 1914’, the reverse with a raised bust of Peary and inscription around, together with a bronze lapel badge of the U.S.W.V. National Auxiliary, presumably as worn by Brainard’s wife, generally good very fine and better (12)

The related documents, photographs and artefacts:

Commission warrant appointing Brainard a Deputy Commissary-General in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, illuminated vellum scroll with official seal, dated 28 December 1905, and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Official condolence scroll, with inscription to ‘Brigadier General David L. Brainard [Who Died in the Service of His Country] in the American Area, March 22, 1946’, with facsimile signature of President Truman, the reverse of the scroll bearing a printed number ‘13116’.

Letters addressed to Brainard from General A. W. Greely, his ex-Arctic C.O. (3), the first, dated 29 June 1923, handwritten in ink, discussing an article regarding the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition which had appeared in the Boston Daily Herald, among other matters, complete with post-marked envelope; the second, dated 27 September 1925, typed, with pencil signature, discussing Peary’s “farthest north” and stating that Brainard was ‘the best informed man alive’ to pass comment on the accuracy of the explorer’s claims (see footnote), complete with post-marked envelope; and the third, dated 28 December 1925, ‘autotyped’, with ink signature, forwarding a copy of his letter to the Secretary of the American Geographical Society regarding the award of the Daly Medal to Brainard, and an ink-annotated and signed ‘autotyped’ copy of that letter, with post-marked envelope; together with an undated, pencilled note of apology (My dear Brainard - sorry to have missed Mrs. Brainard and you ... ’).

Inscribed copies of Brainard’s books (2), comprising The Outpost of the Lost, General David L. Brainard (The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1929, first edition), with ink inscription, ‘To Sara, my beloved wife, chum and partner’, signed and dated at ‘Washington D.C., March 19th 1940’; Six Came Back, The Arctic Adventures of David L. Brainard, edited by Bessie Rowland James (The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis and New York, 1940), with ink inscription, ‘To Sara, my beloved wife’, signed and dated at ‘Washington D.C., Aug. 10th 1940’; together with a rare example of the official pamphlet entitled, Reception of Lieut. A. W. Greely, U.S.A., and His Comrades, and of the Arctic Relief Expedition at Portsmouth, N.H., on August 1 and 4 1884, prepared at the request of the Navy Department by the Rev. Wm. A. McGinley of Portsmouth (Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884).

Portrait and other photographs (6), comprising a particularly fine full-length “tin-type” portrait in his Second Cavalry uniform, standing to attention, with sword, with overlaid gilt oval surround with decorated inner border, underneath a glazed decorated outer gilt frame, the whole contained in an attractive folding leather carrying case, with embossed covers and velvet interior lining, cirac 1880; two further early portrait images, in Second Cavalry uniform, both mounted on card, the reverse of one with ink inscripition, ‘Sgt. D. L. Brainard, Troop L, 2d. Cavalry, Montana, 1878’, and the other ‘D. L. Brainard, 1880, Montana’; together with a two portraits in civilian attire, taken in later life, the reverse of one of them with pencilled inscription, ‘Brig. Genl. David L. Brainerd(sic). Picture made by Capt. Stephen Waterman, April 1944. His age at this date - 87’; and a contemporary image of the Greely Expedition stand at the Columbian Exposition of 1893, with stereoview of the same, this last with printed credit on the reverse to ‘B. W. Kilburn - Littleton, N.H.’

Brainard’s card case, comprising a sprung, black silk sleeve bearing a gilt letter ‘B’ to lower left, and containing one of his cards (‘D. L. Brainard, Lady Franklin Bay Expedition’).

A hand-carved Inuit bone knife, plain blade and part-decorated handle, 200mm. overall length, and undoubtedly as brought back from the Arctic by Brainard, who gained a reputation among his fellow explorers for searching for such artefacts (see footnote), the blade with occasional ink stains from subsequent use (Lot) £15000-20000

Early days

David Legg Brainard was born at his parents’ farm in Norway, New York in December 1856, and attended the local public school until his family’s move to a new farm in Freetown, New York, when he was 10 years old. Here he attended the rural school, but would eventually complete his studies at the State Normal School at Courtland.

In September 1876, 19-year-old Brainard travelled to Philadelphia to view America's first successful world fair, the Centennial Exposition, at which gathering it is interesting to speculate whether he viewed the relics of the Franklin Expedition obtained by the American explorer, Charles Francis Hall, and placed on display in the U.S. Navy’s Observatory Arctic Exhibit. More certain is the fact young Brainard ran out of funds at New York City on his journey home and, too proud to approach his family for assistance, elected to take the free ferry to the U.S. Army Post at Governor's Island, where he enlisted in the Regular Army – it was only as he was putting on his new uniform that he found a ten dollar bill hidden away in the breast pocket of his civilian shirt pocket.

SOLDIER

Great Sioux Indian War

When Brainard joined the Army, only three months had elapsed since Custer's command was mauled at the Little Big Horn, and accordingly he was quickly posted to L Troop, Second Cavalry at Fort Ellis, in Montana Territory, to serve against the Northern Cheyenne and Sioux Indians. The spring of 1877 found F, G, H and L Troops of the Second Cavalry reporting to Colonel Miles at Fort Keogh. Along with six companies of infantry, and a company of mounted scouts, Miles’ command numbered in excess of 20 officers and 450 men, the whole marching south along the Tongue River in early May, where they picked up the trail of the Sioux chief Lame Deer.

Lame Deer's village was discovered near the mouth of Muddy Creek, and Miles determined to attack the Indians at dawn on 7 May, while most of the village's occupants were asleep. In the initial assault, an officer with 20 scouts and mounted infantrymen, plus H Troop, Second Cavalry, charged through the left side of the camp and stampeded the pony herd about a half-mile beyond. The warriors tumbled from their tipis, randomly firing as they fled toward the hills around the camp. F, G and L Troops, the latter including Brainard, followed their fellow cavalrymen, then wheeled to the right, and engaged the Sioux as they took up positions in the hills.

Wishing to communicate with the fleeing Indians, Miles briefly parleyed with Chief Lame Deer and his nephew, Iron Star, but the situation was very tense and through indiscretions on both sides the fighting quickly re-commenced, Miles having a very near brush with death as a bullet fired by Lame Deer narrowly missed him and killed his orderly. Pandemonium broke out, and Lame Deer and Iron Star ran about a hundred yards before the Chief was mown down by gunfire from L Troop cavalrymen, a moment witnessed by Brainard:

‘About this moment the troop to which I was attached dismounted, and we followed the Indians up the precipitous hills. The head-dress made a very conspicuous target, and many shots were fired at the Indian wearing it. Finally he was seen to totter, and the other Indian … placed his hand about the other's waist and supported him up the hill; Lame Deer was seen to take a pistol from his belt and fire backwards in our direction … When the old man fell, Iron Star escaped over the hill through our left, and ran into the face of G Troop under Wheeland(sic) and was shot by Wheeland, who used a pistol.’

Miles wanted to clear the high ground of the Indians who were directing sweeping fire against the soldiers below, so he assembled his men into skirmish order and the dismounted troopers of F, G and L advanced up and over a steep, timbered ridge. At the same time, G Troop flanked the Indians, pursued by the other companies, and 'slaughtered them right and left and did terrible execution in a few moments.'

By nine in the morning, the attack was over and the cavalrymen chased the warriors and their families into wooded ravines beyond the camp, but found few people. Meanwhile, the camp revealed a large quantity of booty, some of which was a grim reminder of the recent past: at least 30 tons of dried buffalo meat, hundreds of robes, carbines, powder and ammunition - and ‘many trophies of the Custer battle and several scalps of white men and women.’

No fewer than four Medals of Honor were won by the men of the Second Cavalry at the Battle of Little Muddy Creek, while their casualties amounted to four killed and nine wounded versus Indian losses of 14 killed and many more wounded. And among the Second Cavalry’s casualties was Brainard, who suffered wounds to his right hand and a gunshot to his right cheek, the latter affecting his sight.

He was awarded the Purple Heart (No. 29069 – completed at the Quartermaster’s Depot on 2 December 1932 and issued on 27 January 1933), one of a handful of retrospective awards granted for the Indian Wars.

Nez Perce War

The battle with Lame Deer was the last important engagement between the Army and the Indians in the Great Sioux War, but dark clouds loomed elsewhere. Reports during the summer reached Fort Ellis about trouble among the Nez Perce Indians in northern Idaho, under Chief Joseph. Earlier in 1877, with new discoveries of gold in the mountains of Nez Perce lands, there was encroachment by white settlers. This was followed by government orders for the Nez Perce to move to the Lapwai Reservation, causing great tribal unrest. Some reckless warriors killed four white settlers without provocation, so the government sent in troops to arrest the offending Indians, and thereafter the situation rapidly deteriorated.

Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce proved to be very worthy adversaries. Though Joseph initially hoped to escape or evade the pursuing soldiers by quickly moving his people to the eastern slope of the Bitter Root Mountains, his eventual objective became sanctuary in Canada. In over three months, about 700 Nez Perce, fewer than 200 of whom were warriors, fought 2,000 U.S. soldiers and Indian auxiliaries in four major battles and numerous skirmishes in a defensive war of over 1,400 miles, through Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The exhausting campaign did not conclude until the first week in October.

Before participating in this campaign, however, Brainard had the distinction of riding alongside the Commanding General of the U.S. Army, William Tecumseh Sherman, who was on a summer inspection tour of the West - L Troop was given the task of escorting General Sherman, his staff, and the General's son, Thomas, to Fort Ellis, at which place they arrived on 2 August 1877. The General planned a visit to America's first national park – Yellowstone - which had only been established five years before, and his cavalry escort consisted of a mere four troopers, including Brainard.

The small band carried provisions for 18 days and included only essential articles. The roads were appalling and the troopers had difficulty clearing away the trees and rocks, and making their way down the steep banks of creeks. On 16 August the party gained first information of the Battle of Big Hole River, which hinted at the defeat of an 180-strong force under Colonel Gibbon out of Fort Ellis. Only eight men from L Troop were included in this force, one of whom was killed in action and another cited for gallantry and awarded the Medal of Honor. General Sherman's entourage arrived back at Fort Ellis on the 18th, having traversed some 300 miles.

Shortly afterwards, as the Nez Perce campaign unfolded, Brainard's stamina was sorely tested:

‘On the last day of August 1877, I was selected by Captain D. W. Benham, 7th U.S. Infantry, commanding Fort Ellis, Montana, to carry an important despatch to 1st Lieutenant G. C. Doane, 2nd Cavalry, temporarily commanding Troop C, 7th Cavalry and Crow Indian Scouts, in operations against the Nez Perce Indians, who were moving in a north-easterly direction across the Yellowstone National Park with the view of escaping through one of the passes of the Absaroka Mountains. Lieutenant Doane had left Fort Ellis two days before, and on the night of the 31st was expected to camp with his command at Henderson's Ranch, near the present town of Cinnabar, Montana, distant from Fort Ellis about sixty-four miles … Considerable weight was carried; two blankets being used folded under the saddle, which in other respects was packed with the regular field equipment, including overcoat, canteen, lariat, etc. In addition, I had a carbine, revolver, one hundred rounds carbine and thirty-six rounds revolver ammunition.’

Minus halts, the ride took about eight hours and Brainard became the holder of the World's Endurance Long Distance Record.

It is probable that Brainard stayed with Doane's unit, which was soon taken over by Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. Gilbert, who had L Troop with him, but whose political wranglings seriously delayed the prompt deployment of his command, such that the campaign was over by the time he reached Fort Ellis.

When Chief Joseph surrendered after the Battle of Bears Paw Mountains in Montana on 5 October, he was less than 40 miles south of Canada. His surrender speech concluded with: ‘I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.’

Bannock War

Brainard served in one further Indian campaign, this time against the Bannock tribe, from south-eastern Idaho. The Bannocks declared war on white settlers in May 1878 and fled from their Fort Hall Reservation into Oregon, in a move similar to that of the Nez Perce the previous year. The conflict also involved other tribes and Second Cavalry H and L Troops were despatched to the mountain pass through which Chief Joseph had escaped, so as to prevent the Indians from fleeing into Montana. Near the town of Bannock, Montana, the troopers constructed Camp Mulkey and following two successful battles against the Indians by columns of cavalry and infantry, the war was effectively over by August.

Medallic recognition for the Indian campaigns did not come until 1907, when Army personnel were authorized to wear the Indian Wars Campaign Medal: Brainard, who had been advanced to Sergeant by the close of the Bannock campaign, received his hard-earned medal in the following year (No. 527 – issued 12 September; the official distribution and receipt roll confirms).

EXPLORER

Brainard remained employed in First Lieutenant G. C. Doane’s Troop over the coming months, oblivious to the fact his career was about to take a dramatic turn, for in 1879, at the suggestion of an Austro-Hungarian naval officer and polar explorer, Karl Weyprecht, an attempt was made to bring together a multi-national scientific task force to push the boundaries of Arctic exploration, the whole under the impetus of the first “International Polar Year”. In short, the participants were to record valuable scientific observations for the benefit of all, a non-competitive approach that was eventually realized in the International Polar Year of 1882, when no fewer than 11 nations joined the common cause.

In the interim, the American input to this multi-national initiative took shape under the leadership of Captain Henry W. Howgate, U.S. Army Signal Corps, who made plans for a 50-man scientific colony 500 miles from the North Pole, at Lady Franklin Bay, Ellesmere Island. But congressional support for such an audacious plan began to recede, so much so that Howgate took the initiative by purchasing a steamer in Scotland and sailing it to Washington, D.C., to rekindle political backing, a ploy that worked. And as his expedition leader, he chose First Lieutenant G. C. Doane, the C.O. of Brainard’s Troop. On 6 May 1880, the Secretary of War wired the Army’s H.Q. in Dakota, ordering Doane to depart Montana with 11 volunteers from the Second Cavalry, the whole bound for the Arctic regions – among them was Sergeant David Brainard.

The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition: Early Days

As it transpired, this particular endeavour was quickly curtailed, a board of naval officers deeming Howgate’s Scottish steamer as unseaworthy, but in the following year, with renewed encouragement and backing from the U.S. Government, the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was launched - and represented America's first participation in an international scientific effort.

With Doane having chosen to stand down, command of the 25-man Army party fell to First Lieutenant A. W. Greely of the Fifth Cavalry, a Civil War veteran and a strict disciplinarian, which latter characteristic was to play a key role in the ill-fated expedition. His immediate subordinates were Second Lieutenant F. F. Kislingbury and Second Lieutenant J. B. Lockwood, while the role of medical officer and naturalist fell to Dr. Octave Pavy. The remainder of the Army party was composed of both infantry soldiers and cavalrymen (six being from the Second Cavalry), though four of the men were civilian specialists who were given the ranks of Sergeant; finally, two native Greenlanders acted as hunters and dog sledge drivers.

For his own part, Brainard had hesitated to volunteer for Arctic service again, for in less than a year his term of enlistment would have ended and he yearned for the freedom of civilian life - he had even saved the misplaced ten dollar bill to celebrate his discharge. After due consideration, however, he was persuaded otherwise by the promise of adventure in the Arctic, and was duly chosen to act as the expedition’s First Sergeant (Chief of Enlisted Men) and Commissary Sergeant. Nonetheless, he was prompted to observe, ‘It is just five years ago today since I left home to make an ass of myself by joining the regulars.’

The expedition left St. John's, Newfoundland, on 7 July 1881, at which point Brainard began his daily journal which he maintained continuously for nearly three years. A good passage was made and Lady Franklin Bay reached in the first week of August, where work begun to construct a base, named Fort Conger, after the senator who had taken a particular interest in the venture. Meanwhile, the expedition's 30-foot steam launch, christened Lady Greely, was laid up for the winter, along with the whaleboat, and meteorological, magnetic and tidal observations were initiated (and maintained continuously over the next two years).

And if a rapid falling out between the disciplinarian Greely and his Second-in-Command, Lieutenant Kislingbury, resulted in an ominous cloud developing over the newly arrived expedition, there were still reasons for satisfaction by the time winter set-in: four depots had been established northward along the coast of Grinnell Land, in preparation for spring sledge journeys, and new areas of the interior had been mapped in the autumn. In so far as the depot-laying journeys were concerned, Brainard had commanded the whaleboat for one of the more important missions and established a depot that contained 2,000 lbs. of provisions and supplies.

The Arctic winter was a long and depressing affair, Brainard noting in his journal, ‘One scarcely wonders that [explorer Charles] Hall died. I think the gloom would drive me to suicide in a week’, but a certain degree of distraction was to be found in Lieutenant Lockwood’s fortnightly news sheet, the Arctic Moon.

Spring Sledging 1882 and a "Farthest North" Record

With the arrival of Spring, a sledge party under Dr. Pavy was despatched to northern Ellesmere Island, to determine if land existed further north of the island, and encountered huge icebergs and enormous hummocks - the ice floes behind the party separated and the men retreated for fear of being marooned; Greely, meanwhile, set out from Fort Conger to explore the island's interior and discovered a large lake, which he named after General Hazen, Chief of the Signal Corps.

And on 4 April 1882, the North Greenland Sledge Party departed with Lieutenant Lockwood in charge, and Brainard as Second-in-Command. It was organized into two parties, taking the dog sledges Hayes, Kane, Beaumont and Hall. After six days, the sun was with them constantly, day and night, and there was much suffering from snow blindness. Temperatures sometimes struck 50º below zero, and the men were exposed to chilling blasts that swept down from the north as they hugged the Greenland coastline.

Then on 29 April, after the support party had turned back, Lockwood, Brainard and Greenlander Fredrick Christiansen, with a single dog sledge and 25 days' rations, forged onward alone – they were about to make history. It was hard going over crusty ice and around huge hummocks, the total weight of their load amounting to 783 pounds, including sledge - nearly 98 pounds per dog – and at times Brainard stumbled about like a blind man: ‘We have snow glasses, but seldom wear them. They make the ground appear uneven.’

At length, the gallant trio surpassed the furthest point achieved by Lieutenant Beaumont's Greenland sledge team during the 1875-76 British Arctic Expedition - whose maps greatly assisted the Americans – and on 6 May Brainard described a typical day out on the ice of the unknown coast: ‘Travelling abominable. Our route leads us along the tidal crack which varies in width from one to one hundred yards … camp at 11:15 p.m. having travelled ten hours. Men and dogs both worn.’

Shortly afterwards, a severe snowstorm slowed progress to the point where the party had to camp on an island for 60 hours - a loss of time it could ill afford – but on 13 May, the storm moderated and the advance was resumed through deep snow and pack ice, past capes and fjords. Finally, on that day, a new "farthest north" record was set at latitude 83º 24' N. and longitude 40º 46' W., beating the record held by Britain’s Commander Markham in 1876 and surpassing 300 years of British Arctic record-breaking journeys. Brainard recorded the moment:

‘From observations taken along route, we believe we are in a higher latitude than ever before reached by man, and on land farther north than any was thought to exist. Once again we ran up the Stars and Stripes, this time with a feeling that warmed our spirits despite the northern breeze which swirled around us.’

A flag-topped stone pyramid nine feet high was erected, containing a tin cylinder with expedition records and a self-recording spirit thermometer. Observations were taken and geological and botanical specimens collected, but Brainard marked the historic occasion in a uniquely American way. Anywhere he visited in the U.S., even in the remote areas of the Rocky Mountains, he found “Plantation Bitters” conspicuously advertised. Consequently, he carved ‘St. 1860 X’ (Started trade in 1860 with ten dollars) on a slab in the face of a cliff. When he told Lieutenant Lockwood of what he had done, he laughingly said he was sure Brainard was a company employee and that he could expect to be paid in bitters for his work.

Brainard and his companions left a 'scene [that] was grand and impressive beyond description,’ which included the later-named Lockwood Island and Brainard Island, and headed home, reaching Fort Conger on 1 June, having been absent 59 days and traversing nearly 1,100 miles, mostly in temperatures well below zero. Lieutenant Greely came out specially to greet the party.

The Relief Ship and a Second Winter

Summer excursions were made to the westward, across Grinnell Land, Ellesmere Island's interior. Here the landscape came alive with newly discovered lakes, rivers, glaciers and mountains, while in order to supplement the station's food supply, much hunting was also carried out. Besides these excursions, there were routine duties and a good deal of time spent writing letters to send back home on the expected relief ship. Though equipped with ample food and clothing for a two-year stay at Lady Franklin Bay, a vessel bringing new personnel, additional supplies and mail was due to arrive at Fort Conger during the summer of 1882. The expedition had come through the first winter in good health and spirits and the future looked bright.

But in September the relief ship Neptune was turned back by the ice in Smith Sound, 300 miles from Fort Conger. She did, however, leave enough rations at Cape Sabine (Ellesmere Island) to feed Greely's party for ten days and an equal amount at Littleton Island (Greenland side). This caused no immediate hardship for the well-stocked expedition, but the novelty of Arctic exploration had worn off for the men who were due to return home, arousing tension, dissatisfaction and insubordination. Greely's relationship with Lieutenant Kislingbury had never been good, or for that matter, Dr. Pavy, and the situation deteriorated over the winter.

Spring Sledging 1883

Lieutenant Lockwood, Brainard and Greenlander Frederick, with a team of the ten best dogs, set off to the south-west on 25 April, across Ellesmere Island's Grinnell Land toward the Western Ocean. It was the last extended sledge journey for the expedition before the relief ship was expected in the summer.

A week later, while scouting, Brainard climbed some cliffs south of camp. ‘The view was worth the climb,’ he wrote, 'I saw a magnificent panorama of imposing snow-clad mountains and sweeping hills intersected by valleys and ravines.’ Dashing on, the intrepid explorers crossed the island for the first time from the east to the Western Ocean and saw marine fossils and petrified trees. Along the way, they discovered an 85-mile long glacier subsequently named Agassiz Glacier, in addition to finding and naming Greely Fjord, and two headlands north and south of the fjord - which were christened Cape Brainard and Cape Lockwood. The party returned to Fort Conger on 26 May.

In the process of charting large areas of Grinnell Land, Lockwood, Brainard and Greenlander Frederick had completed all three "farthests" during the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (i.e. north, east and west). Indeed they had journeyed on foot and by sledge one-eighth of the distance around the world above the 80th parallel. Greely radiated with praise and reserved a special honour for Brainard:

‘Sergeant Brainard's share of this work showed the same sterling qualities evinced by him the previous year, and in consequence he was recommended by me in 1882 for a commission in the Army.’

Mutinous Retreat

Through the summer months, hopeful eyes scanned the empty horizon south of Fort Conger for the relief ship. From Greely’s perspective he had several “undesirables” who he wished to send home, among them the steam launch’s engineer, who had a weakness for the bottle – on one occasion the Sergeant in question got drunk on stolen spirit lamp fuel and fell from the launch, and would have drowned if it were not for Brainard, who hauled him out of the freezing water.

Before leaving the United States, Greely had worked out a detailed plan whereby the party would retreat south if the relief ship did not arrive. A string of depots planted along the Ellesmere coast by the Proteus when she brought the party north in 1881 would keep it supplied with food and enable the boats to carry minimum loads. A relief ship would be waiting for Greely at the most northern point allowed by the pack ice, but if not, a relief party would camp at Littleton Island (the Greenland side) with food and clothing, and keep contact between the two parties throughout the winter. Everyone was to be picked up in the Spring. It was a sound plan, if, in Brainard's words, ‘nothing upset the scheme [Greely] had meticulously worked out for an independent retreat southwards.’

And with no sign of the expected relief ship by August 1883, Greely duly ordered the commencement of the 300-mile retreat – ‘I was the last to leave the station and nailed the door securely,’ wrote Brainard. Greely was in charge of the steam launch Lady Greely, which towed the other boats; Rice commanded the jollyboat Valorous; Connell the iceboat Beaumont (both left by the earlier British expedition), and Brainard the whaleboat Narwhal. Each officer was allowed 16 pounds of personal baggage and each man only eight pounds: unknown to any of them was the fact the Proteus had been crushed by ice far to the south, going down with most of her valuable cargo – the future of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was looking bleak.

On the 13th, the party's passage down Kennedy Channel was blocked by a huge grounded iceberg that ran a mile out from shore - it had split, leaving a cleft scarcely 12 feet wide, 50 feet high and more than 100 yards long, and on this occasion they managed to pass through the naturally formed blue-green ice tunnel. But Greely was no sailor, and with ever increasing challenges from the ice and weather as they headed south – ice that prevented them from reaching earlier placed depots ashore – he began to lose the plot. Indeed much of the burden of command, or certainly the example of leadership, fell to Brainard, who helped plan the flotilla’s course. And when, at length, Greely suggested they abandon their steam launch, and take to the drifting ice with their boats and supplies, in the hope of being taken by the current to Littleton Island, his grasp of the situation was immediately called into question. As Sergeant Cross put it (that is he with a fondness for the bottle), ‘The way things look, if the C.O. has his way, we will wind up like Franklin.’

Brainard feared the same, so he was not at all surprised when he was approached by Dr. Pavy, on behalf of the others, with a grave proposal: if Greely decided to go through with his planned “drift”, the doctor would declare the commander of unsound mind, and Lieutenant Kislingbury would take command and lead the party back to Fort Conger and retreat again next spring: the senior non-commissioned officer's support for the mutiny was crucial to secure the allegiance of the enlisted men, but gauging the characters of those who planned the mutiny, Brainard refused to support the plan, which he could only see as a breakdown in discipline, thus putting the party in even greater danger.

By mid-September, the Lady Greely and Valorous were abandoned and there began a torturously meandering 34-day drift on the ice. The men were all feeling hunger now and there was only a 40-day supply of rations left. As stoic as he was, Brainard was not optimistic:

‘The roar of the moving and grinding pack east of us in the axis of the channel is something so terrible that even the bravest cannot appear unconcerned. To add to this scene of desolation, dark, portentous clouds hang over the horizon to remind us that our floe is not connected with the land, but drifting helplessly in the Kane Sea.’

It was not until 29 September that the party once more reached terra firma at a place across from Littleton Island. Greely named the spot Eskimo Point, after the discovery of three ancient igloos, but any rejoicing was short-lived. In fact continuing discipline problems and worsening food shortages caused Greely to take a still firmer hand with his men and, as First Sergeant and Commissary Sergeant, an even heavier burden was placed on Brainard's shoulders.

Winter at Cape Sabine, 1883-84

A hunting party discovered a note left by the leader of the Proteus relief expedition in late July, indicating that some depots of food and supplies were left in the Cape Sabine area, but in spite of the good news Brainard remained coldly realistic:

‘There are little more than 1,000 rations at Cape Sabine and these will not go far toward feeding twenty-five men. Little time remains to hunt and besides game has become noticeably scarce.’

In early October, Greely predicted a similarly dark future:

‘I, however, am fully aware of the very dangerous situation we are yet in, and foresee a winter of starvation, suffering and probably death for some … Our fuel is so scanty that we are in danger of perishing on that score alone. Am determined to make our food last until April 1, and shall so divide it, supplementing it from any game killed.’

Entailing heavy sledge work, the party moved to Cape Sabine, as the thermometer steadily moved from zero degrees Fahrenheit to 13 below - and falling. Cape Sabine was several miles to the north-east, and there the men constructed a stone house for the winter. With an upturned boat for a roof, it was christened Camp Clay and measured only 25 by 18 feet, by four feet high.

Constant hunger was now their companion and throughout the coming months the men's spirits and energy dwindled. Brainard noted that, ‘No one ever thinks of wasting what energy he has in cleaning his person, or fussing with his ragged garments.’ Worse, food was being stolen from the commissary storehouse, and more than once angry accusations flew from long-bearded faces, blackened by soot from the cooking fire. Brainard tried to set a spring-gun trap on the storehouse door, but had so much trouble setting the gun that he gave up the attempt. Instead, he tried his best to raise spirits with tales from the Indian Wars.

The first death in the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition occurred on 17 January 1884, when Sergeant Cross died of starvation. The next morning Brainard and fellow Second Cavalryman, Private Biederbeck, wrapped the corpse in empty coffee sacks with as much respect as they could manage and draped the American flag over the body. Then a six-man detail pulled the body on a sledge to what would become Cemetery Ridge, some 50 yards from camp. Due to the frozen, rocky earth, the grave was only 15 inches deep. Brainard recorded the scene:

‘One cannot conceive of anything more unearthly, more weird, than this ghostly procession of emaciated and half-starved men moving slowly and silently away from their wretched ice-prison in the dim and uncertain light of an Arctic night, having in their midst a dead comrade who was about to be laid away in the frozen ground forever. It was a scene that one can never forget.’

Amazingly, only one other man died that winter.

Fatal Spring

With the coming of Spring, Brainard lifted the mood of the entire party when he came into camp on 14 March with three ptarmigan he had shot - the first game since a scrawny fox was killed in February. Viewed as a good omen, the men started to formulate ideas to increase the food supply and Brainard acted on a proposal Greely had made some time before by rigging a cloth net in a tidal crack to catch tiny crustaceans, about the size of wheat grain and referred to as “shrimps”.

One morning in late March, men started collapsing in the hut, and it was quickly realized that fumes from the alcohol lamp used to heat tea had poisoned their air supply - someone snatched away the rags that had been stuffed the night before into the ventilation hole above the cooking place as everyone tumbled outside into the -24ºF weather, taking deep gasps of the fresh morning air. It was a very close call.

Though the food supply moderately increased, by 2 April, Brainard wrote that ‘everybody is ravenously hungry, and all are growing daily weaker.’ Then, three days later, Greenlander Frederick died after several days of extreme weakness, followed by another man and Lieutenant Lockwood 24 hours later. But as Brainard noted, ‘Our own condition is so wretched, so palpably miserable, that death would be welcomed rather than feared … ’

On 14 April, and well aware of his own mortality, Greely wrote in his journal that Brainard was to succeed him in command of the expedition should anything happen to him. He added, on 22 April, ‘I gave Sergeant Brainard instructions about my effects &c. if anything should happen to me. I want Brainard commissioned.’ Meanwhile, his stalwart Sergeant was making two and three trips a day to the tidal crack to secure "shrimps", arduous work that led to him having to stagger back to the hut, often suffering from dizziness.

Death continued to stalk the expedition, claiming Greenlander Jens Edward, who drowned in his kayak while recovering a seal, and four others in May, leaving just 14 survivors, all of whom abandoned the hut at the end of the same month in favour of a tent for the coming summer. Brainard, meanwhile, continued to set a fine example of selfless conduct, even though poorly treated by some of his comrades, one such case being recorded by Greely in his journal on 29 May:

‘Brainard returned exhausted and half frozen from his shrimping trip, and was obliged to sleep outside the tent in the storm, as Dr. Pavy and Salor, who are in Brainard's bag, crowded him out, refusing to make room for him inside. Brainard took the matter very quietly, although in his weak condition he suffered greatly from cold and exposure.’

Summer: Death and Salvation

Private Henry had been warned more than once about repeatedly stealing food and on the evening of 5 June, Greely quietly handed Brainard a page torn from his pocket notebook - it was an order to shoot Henry if he was again caught stealing food. Inevitably, perhaps, the latter was caught dipping into the shrimp pot at next morning's breakfast, and when confronted, boldly admitted his crime without the slightest repentance. Greely then wrote a new order to Sergeants Brainard, Long and Frederick - execute Private Henry, since ‘order is imperative and absolutely necessary for any chance of life.' The three Sergeants drew lots as to who would fire the fatal shot, as there was only one suitable rifle in camp, and swore never to reveal the executioner’s name. Henry then paid the ultimate price for his crime.

In spite of these dire circumstances, Brainard still took an interest in his surroundings, Greely noting in his journal on 8 June that his senior N.C.O. ‘found yesterday a few Eskimo relics. We told him it was a ruling passion strong in death, as he has always been gathering up articles of that kind’: the bone knife in this collection was evidently acquired in this manner.

By 22 June, just seven men remained from the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, one of whom had long since lost both feet due to frostbite (and would later die). On that date, Greely thought he heard a ship's whistle and asked Brainard and Long to investigate. Having crawled up the ridge, the men saw nothing and Brainard returned to the tent to report to Greely. Long meanwhile went up to the knoll to raise the fallen signal flag Brainard had planted there some weeks before and, as he gazed out into the water, he could just make out the form of a ship. They were saved.

Shortly afterwards, Navy Lieutenant John C. Colwell and others were at the camp, Brainard immediately drawing himself up to the ‘position of the soldier’ – he was about to salute, but Colwell gently took his hand. At the time of rescue, the men were within 48 of death, and it was largely due to Brainard’s scrupulous handling of food supplies and his shrimp fishing that anyone was still alive. Moreover, as recorded by Greely, ‘no ounce of unauthorized food passed his lips.’

When Colwell’s men exhumed the bodies of the dead from their shallow graves on Cemetery Ridge, it was found that six of them had been cannibalized, a discovery that caused a public sensation in the United States: to their dying days, all of the survivors denied any knowledge of cannibalism.

Interestingly, Brainard first received recognition for his Arctic achievements not from his own countrymen, but from the British Royal Geographical Society, when, in June 1886, he was presented with the Society’s “Back Grant” – an award that included a gold testimonial watch and diploma. In his letter of response to the Society, Brainard generously acknowledged that Beaumount's maps, sketches, and clear comprehensive descriptions were key to Lieutenant Lockwood's party attaining the highest northern latitude.

Added to which, Brainard was finally rewarded with a commission in his old unit, the Second Cavalry, that October, ‘As recognition of the gallant and meritorious services rendered by him in the Arctic expedition of 1881-1884.’ At that time, and for many years thereafter, he was the only living officer of the Army, active or retired, holding a commission awarded for specific distinguished services.

A RETURN TO REGULAR SOLDIERING

Far West and the Alaska Relief Expedition

What followed was a posting to Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory, where Second Lieutenant Brainard's exploration experience was put to good use when he was ordered out for a field reconnaissance to the Cascade Mountains in 1887. During this time, he explored a large glacier in the "Three Sisters", prominent peaks in the range, and was married in February 1888, but the union was short-lived.

Afterwards came postings to forts in California, Arizona and New Mexico, and by the early 1890s he had been advanced to First Lieutenant, the intervening period witnessing several troops of the Second Cavalry searching for the Apache Kid, a former U.S. Army Indian Scout who had been a renegade for many years. Other detachments were in constant search of hostile Indians who were guilty of isolated plundering - what eventually happened to the Kid is a mystery, but he likely made it to Mexico and died there.

About this time, in spite of becoming an expert marksman, Brainard's eyesight was deteriorating as a result of his wound from the Sioux War and snow-blindness in the Arctic, and as a consequence he transferred to the Commissary Branch. Advanced to Captain in 1896, he was appointed Purchasing and Disbursing Officer of the Alaska Relief Expedition in February 1898, his task being to bring supplies and relief to victims of the gold rush that had been inspired by such legendary tales as White Fang and Call of the Wind, by Jack London. As it transpired, the “sufferings” of the miners and prospectors had been greatly exaggerated, and Brainard returned home.

Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection

During the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, Brainard was appointed Chief Commissary of Department of the Pacific and Eighth Army Corps, supervising about a dozen division and brigade commissary field officers. A later Congressional report highly praised his work:

‘In addition to the large money accountability connection with the chief commissaryship, the supervision of vast quantities of subsistence stores sent to the islands has in large part devolved on him … it is a subject of congratulation that so able, zealous, and efficient an officer as Major Brainard was chosen for the duties which he has so satisfactorily performed.’

So, too, General John F. Weston, Commissary General, in making a recommendation for officers for duty with the General Staff:

‘Major D. L. Brainard, a very capable man; did splendid work for the whole Army under the administration of Gen. Otis in the Philippines. Now has the depot in New York, where his work is of the very highest order. Intelligent always. Besides his staff duty he has performed fine duty with the line. I regard him as very capable.’

However, the victory against the Spanish in the Philippines did not bring peace, for America sought to occupy the islands and this resulted in the Philippine Insurrection. As a consequence, between 1899 and 1902, 250,000 Filipino civilians died from hunger and disease, while the U.S. sustained 5,000 combat casualties and 3,000 wounded - many more thousands died from tropical diseases they contracted during the conflict.

Brainard was awarded the Spanish-American War Campaign Medal (No. 137 – issued on 6 January 1908), and the Philippine Insurrection Medal (No. 231 – issued on 14 January 1908; the official distribution and receipt rolls confirm).

He returned to the Philippines as Chief Commissary, Philippine Division, Manila, from 1909 until 1911, and from September of the latter year until July 1914 served in the Office of the Commissary General in Washington, D.C., which latter appointment witnessed his promotion to Colonel.

The Great War

Brainard became the U.S. Military Attaché in Buenos Aires until the eve of America's entry into the Great War, in April 1917, and at the end of the year he was promoted to Brigadier-General in the National Army.

In the following year he served in Lisbon, Portugal, acting as the Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy, which office he occupied until August 1919, shortly before his retirement – he was created a Grand Officer of the Military Order of Aviz in September 1918 (Presidential decree dated on the 28th of that month) and a Grand Officer of the Military Order of Christ in February 1919 (Presidential decree dated on the 27th of that month), in addition to being awarded the American Victory Medal with clasp ‘France’ – no record of his French Legion of Honour has been found, but this is not uncommon in awards to Allied servicemen; he also married for a second time during the Great War, to Sara Hall, who already had a daughter named Elinor.

Belated Recognition and Commemoration of Arctic Exploits

Back in May 1904, a group of men active in exploration met in New York City at the request of Arctic explorer and historian Henry Collins Walsh, in order to form an organization uniting explorers in good fellowship, and Greely and Brainard were among those who attended - the Explorers Club was duly founded and Brainard went on to become its fourth President. In April 1914, a dinner was held at the Club to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Robert E. Peary's North Pole discovery and a special gold medal to mark the occasion was ordered from Tiffany and presented to Peary. Individually named bronze replicas were presented to Club members in attendance, Brainard among them - about 50 members were present.

By the 1920s, Greely had long since retired as a Major-General, but he and Brainard had stayed in close contact since their Arctic days. And after four decades, much to the pleasure of his old Commanding Officer, the American Geographical Society recognized Brainard for his ‘conspicuous work in the field of Arctic exploration’ and awarded him the Charles P. Daly Medal in 1925. Greely, himself a recipient of the same award, wrote to the Society's Secretary, describing his satisfaction at the news – and listing the achievements of his former Sergeant in glowing terms:

‘As an American soldier his extraordinary services and unswerving fidelity during the fateful winter at Cape Sabine preserved lives, maintained solidarity, and eventually led to the preservation of the records of the first scientific cooperation of this country.’

In April 1922, Brainard was one of three Explorer Club's representatives invited to the unveiling of the Peary Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery - by this date, only Greely and Brainard remained of the six Lady Franklin Bay survivors. And in June 1925, another moving unveiling took place at Cape Sabine, honoring the dead of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, when the National Geographic Society's Memorial Tablet was affixed to a 100-ton boulder. But over and above attending such gatherings, Brainard remained well-informed on more recent exploration matters, and his knowledge was eagerly sought and greatly respected. A case in point would be a request made by Greely a few months after the Cape Sabine ceremony:

‘I have sent a letter to Shea stating that I am in accord with him at Peary’s farthest North. At a proper time I hope you will express your opinion. I do not question Peary's truthfulness, but I do his accuracy. You are the best informed man alive who can pass from personal experience of the wonderful marches that P thought he made. It is an impossibility in my judgment.’

“The Last Survivor”

At the close of the decade, The Explorers Club presented its “Explorers Medal” to Brainard, the only survivor of the "farthest north" sledge party. The award is the highest honour bestowed by the Club and is granted for extraordinary contributions directly to the field of exploration, scientific research or to the welfare of humanity. And in the same year, 1929, Brainard published The Outpost of the Lost: An Arctic Adventure, a transcription of the last 11 months of his journal, which had lain for 45 years in an old trunk.

Brainard's final polar accolade came in 1936, the year after Greely's death, when the American Polar Society elected him as its first Honorary Member on his 80th birthday. A few days before Christmas, Marie Peary, the explorer's daughter, was on hand to present a specially illustrated scroll, signed by Paul A. Siple (Society President and veteran of two Antarctic expeditions under Byrd), and the media sought out Brainard too: in the 1930s and 40s he retold the story of his Arctic adventures for newspaper readers and radio audiences alike.

The last survivor of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition also published a transcription of his journal for the entire expedition in 1940, under the title Six Came Back: The Arctic Adventure of David L. Brainard. Such was the contentious nature of the book that a reviewer on the New York Times assumed that it had been published posthumously, writing, ‘It is easy to understand why this diary was withheld from publication until both Brainard and Greely were dead.’ The General was delighted to assure the newspaper by return of post that he was very much alive and expected to be for some time to come, and to request that the newspaper take immediate steps ‘to restore him to a living status through the same medium that deprived him of life.’ The Times quickly complied.

On a lighter note, in October of that same year, a Mrs. Lillian Gary Taylor wrote to Brainard, asking him if he remembered the afternoon, many years ago, when she was a 16-year-old girl, and had christened the expedition's launch. In his typically jovial reply Brainard wrote, ‘I recall every incident of the christening of the launch, Lady Greely, and I specially remember the charming young girl whom Lockwood had asked to do the christening. I have never forgotten the champagne, as it was the last that I drank for over three years.’

David L. Brainard remained active in business up until his death of a heart attack in Washington's Walter Reed General Hospital, on 22 March 1946 – he had become the Washington representative for a New York business firm, the Association of Army and Navy Stores, of which he was Vice President and a Director; his widow, Sara Hall Brainard, died in 1953, and both were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Elinor passed away in New York City in 1982.

Main references

Brown, M. H., The Flight of the Nez Perce (Lincoln, 1967, University of Nebraska Press); Carroll, J. M. (introduction), The Papers of the Order of the Indian Wars (Fort Collins, 1975, The Old Army Press); Greene, J. A., Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876-77 (Lincoln, 1991, University of Nebraska Press).

Brainard, D. L., Six Came Back: The Arctic Adventure of David L. Brainard. edited by Bessie Rowland James (New York, 1940, The Bobbs-Merrill Co.); The Explorers’ Club Archives (N.Y.C.,, New York); Greely, A. W. 1885 (1894 edition). Three Years of Arctic Service: An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84 and the Attainment of the Farthest North (New York, 1885 (1894 edition), Charles Scribner's Sons); Greely, A. W., Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land (Vols. I & II, Washington, D.C., 1888, Government Printing Office); Guttridge, L. F.. Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition (New York, 2000, G. P. Putnam & Sons); Holland, C., Arctic Exploration and Development c. 500 B.C. to 1915, An Encyclopedia (New York & London, 1994, Garland Publishing, Inc.); Journal of The Military Service Institution of the United States; Lambert, Major J. I., One Hundred Years With The Second Cavalry (Fort Riley, Kansas, 1939 (reprinted Newton Publishing Co., 1999), Capper Printing Co.); Montana Historical Society Archives (Helena, Montana); Nares, G. S., Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea During 1875-76 in H.M. Ships “Alert” and “Discovery” (London, 1878, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington); Schley, W. S. & Soley, J. R., The Rescue of Greely, New York, 1885, Charles Scribner's Sons); Schley, W. S., Report of Winfield S. Schley, Commander, U.S. Navy, Commanding Greely Relief Expedition of 1884 (Washington, D.C., 1887, Government Printing Office); Todd, A. L., Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition, 1881-1884 (New York, 1961, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.); and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (College Park, Maryland).

The above is based on extensive research by Glenn M. Stein, F.R.G.S.; sold with photocopied verification for the Honours & Awards, taken from official sources.