- Adolphus W. Greely, Union Major General, 19th Massachusetts Infantry, 81st Colored Infantry, Chief Signal Officer, Explorer, Medal of Honor Recipient - Handbook of Alaska: its Resources, Products and Attractions by A. W. Greely, 1909, Charles Scribners Sons : New York, 8.5 by 6 inches, xii, 280pp. This handbook details the climate, army, geography, fisheries, tourism and agriculture of Alaska, among a great many other things. Adolphus Washington Greely (1844-1935) was a polar explorer and US Army Officer. He commanded the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition in 1881, and was one of six survivors out of the original twenty-five; however, they were successful in discovering much of Greenland before falling victim to low supplies. Greely penned a number of works on his experiences in the Arctic after his retirement. Complete with a map in the pocket to the rear of the work, as well as full plates throughout. The author has written an inscription dated March 6, 1923: To Mr. S. D. Green; One of the men doing a modern work of Sisyphus in Public School music competition, to him, as Sophocles says, With each day a labor comes and goes; each day in turn hands on the torch of labor. From Wikipedia: After having been rejected twice, on 26 July 1861, he joined the Union Army for the American Civil War, enlisting in the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Over the next two years he worked his way up the enlisted ranks to first sergeant. On 18 March 1863, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 81st United States Colored Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 26 April 1864 and to captain on 4 April 1865. After the war he received a brevet promotion to major in recognition of his meritorious service. He was mustered out of the Volunteer Army on 22 March 1867. During his Civil War service, Greely took part in several battles, including Ball's Bluff, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. From 1865 to 1867, Greely took part in the post-war occupation of New Orleans. In March 1887, President Grover Cleveland appointed him as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army with the rank of brigadier general. During his tenure as Chief Signal Officer of the Army, he oversaw construction, operation, and maintenance of numerous telegraph lines during and after the Spanish–American War, including: Puerto Rico, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers); Cuba, 3,000 mi (4,800 km); and the Philippines, 10,200 mi (16,400 km). Greely also oversaw construction under adverse conditions a telegraph system for Alaska consisting of nearly 4,000 mi (6,400 km) of submarine cables, land cables and 107 mi (172 km) of wireless telegraphy, which at the time was the longest regularly working commercial system in the world. Greely's innovations as Chief Signal Officer led to the Armys fielding of wireless telegraphy, airplanes, motorized automobiles and trucks, and other modern equipment. He represented the United States at the 1903 International Telegraph Congress in London and the 1903 International Wireless Telegraph Congress in Berlin. As an expert on the telegraph, Greely worked on some of the first international telecommunication treaties. On February 10, 1906, he was promoted to major general and assigned to command the Pacific Division. In 1906, he commanded the relief effort that followed the San Francisco earthquake. [2] As commander of the Northern Division, Greely was responsible for negotiating an end to the 1905-1906 Ute Rebellion. Greely commanded the Department of the Columbia in 1907. [2] His terminal assignment was commander of the Department of Dakota in late 1907 and early 1908. In 1908, Greely reached the mandatory retirement age of 64. Greely received the Medal of Honor in 1935: For his life of splendid public service, begun on March 27, 1844, having enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army on July 26, 1861, and by successive promotions was commissioned as major general February 10, 1906, and retired by operation of law on his 64th birthday. Greely was the second person (after Frederick W. Gerber) to receive the award for lifetime achievement rather than for acts of physical courage at the risk of ones own life.