424 GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION. 



torily explained. Secretary Lincoln was also 

 of opinion that Lieut. Garlington should have 

 remained at or near Littleton island. The 

 case was submitted to the President, with rec- 

 ommendation that a court of inquiry be or- 

 dered. The order to that effect was issued 

 Oct. 31st, and the court, consisting of Brig. -Gen. 

 8. V. Benet, Chief of Ordnance; Col. R. B. 

 Ayres, Second Artillery ; and Lieut.-Col. O. M. 

 Poe, of the Corps of Engineers, met on the 8th 

 of November. Maj. Henry Goodfellow, Judge 

 Advocate of the United States Army, acted as 

 recorder. No further action was taken with 

 reference to the conduct of Commander Wildes, 

 of the Yantic. 



Testimony before the court of inquiry oc- 

 cupied several weeks. Lieut. Garlington and 

 Lieut. Colwell testified regarding the conduct 

 of the expedition, and repeated the criticism 

 upon the action of Capt. Pike and his crew. 

 Oapt. Pike gave evidence as to the condition 

 of his vessel, his own experience, and ^ the 

 character of his crew. Commander Wildes 

 was examined with reference to the part taken 

 by the Yantic. Gen. William B. Hazen, head 

 of the Signal-Service Bureau, testified in re- 

 gard to the preparation for the expedition, the 

 employment of the Proteus, and the instruc- 

 tions furnished to Lieut. Garlington. Secretary 

 Chandler gave an explanation of the outfit of 

 the Yantic and the instructions under which 

 she was sent out, and other witnesses were ex- 

 amined at length. Argument by counsel was 

 begun on the 3d of January, 1884, and Gen. 

 Hazen read a paper in defense of his own 

 course regarding the relief expedition. 



The report of the court of inquiry was with- 

 held from publication until drawn out by a 

 resolution from the Senate in February, 1884. 

 It embodied a digest of the testimony taken 

 and the conclusions reached. While declaring 

 that Lieut. Garlington had erred in not wait- 

 ing longer at Pandora harbor with the object 

 of obtaining from the Yantic supplies with 

 which to make a depot for a winter station at 

 Life-boat point or Littleton island, the court 

 regarded this as an error of judgment ''com- 

 mitted in the exercise of a difficult and unusual 

 discretion, 1 ' for which he " should not be held 

 to further accountability." His general con- 

 duct of the expedition was commended as 

 characterized by " zeal, energy, and efficiency," 

 both before and after the loss of the Proteus. 

 The failure of the expedition was attributed 

 to the " grave errors and omissions " of the 

 Chief Signal Officer of the army. 



Various opinions had been given as to the 

 situation and prospects of Lieut. Greely. Gar- 

 lington, in his report, had said : 



I am of the opinion that if Lieut. Greely should 

 reach Littleton island this season he will divide his 

 people among the different Esquimau settlements, 

 and the stores he will find on his line of retreat, sup- 

 plemented by the game of that region, will be suffi- 

 cient food for his party during the coming winter. 

 Unless the conditions of the ice permit Lieut. Greely 

 to leave Discovery harbor in his boats, I do not think 



GREEN, JOHN RICHARD. 



he will attempt the journey to Littleton island this 

 season. He has at Discovery harbor a good house, 

 plenty of fuel and provisions, with what game the 

 country affords, to carry him to next spring. He could 

 then start south as early as the state of the season 

 permitted, and reach Cape Sabine without much com- 

 parative difficulty. This will, in my opinion, be the 

 course adopted by Lieut. Greely. 



Commander Wildes, in his letter to the Sec- 

 retary of the Navy, said : 



I had no fears for Lieut. Greely, who, living in a 

 region reported well stocked with game, has econo- 

 mized his provisions. Should he reacli Littleton bay, 

 besides the provisions on the west coast, the rocks and 

 waters between that island and the mainland abound 

 with walrus, the stench from their ordure fouling the 

 air for a long distance. On the neighboring mainland 

 reindeer are reported numerous. On the southeast of 

 Carey island there is a cache of six months' provisions 

 for twenty men, known to Lieut. Greely, who landed 

 there. They would have to live Esquimau-fashion, 

 but Dr. Kane and Lieut. Schwatka did that. 



Immediately on the announcement of the 

 failure of the expedition, the question of a 

 third effort to relieve Lieut. Greely began to 

 be discussed. It was decided that another 

 spring would have to be awaited before any 

 practical steps could be taken, but in the mean 

 time it was determined to appoint a commis- 

 sion to take the matter into consideration and 

 supervise all the preparations for the expedi- 

 tion of 1884. This commission was appointed 

 by the President on the 17th of December, and 

 consisted of Gen. William B. Hazen, Chief of 

 the Signal- Service Bureau, and Capt. George 

 W. Davis, of the Fourteenth Infantry, selected 

 by the Secretary of War ; and Capt. James A. 

 Greer, of the United States Navy, who had 

 commanded the Tigress on the search for the 

 Polaris survivors, and Lieut.-Commander B. 

 H. McCalla, designated by the Secretary of the 

 Navy. This commission, at the beginning of 

 1884, began receiving suggestions and plans 

 regarding the new expedition for the relief 

 of Lieut. Greely and his party. 



GREEN, John Richard, an English historian, 

 born in Oxford in 1837; died at Mentone, 

 France, March 9, 1883. He was a child of 

 small and feeble frame, unable to partake in the 

 usual sports of boys, and was shut up to the 

 companionship of his books. His early educa- 

 tion was received at Magdalen College School ; 

 and at the age of fifteen he had mastered all 

 that could there be taught him. He then stud- 

 ied for three years under private tutors, and 

 at eighteen obtained a scholarship in Jesus Col- 

 lege, Oxford. The regular collegiate course 

 presented few attractions to him, and he made 

 no effort to attain any of its honors, devoting 

 his time mainly to historical reading. While 

 an undergraduate, he contributed to the "Ox- 

 ford Chronicle " a series of papers upon " Ox- 

 ford in the Eighteenth Century," which at- 

 tracted the notice of the late Arthur Penrhyn 

 Stanley, then Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical 

 History at Oxford. These papers, which were 

 subsequently reprinted, gave promise of the 

 high and rare powers to be developed in those 

 works which won for him a foremost place 



