THE ARMY IN ALASKA:
(By Col.Wilds P.Richardson, U.S.A.Ret.)
(Reprinted from "Infantry JournaiyMay,1923)
visions among __ _ __ _u .t __v ___w
claraation taking possession of the ’’cache11 in the nane of the United States,
hoisted the American flag over it,and placed the "Army11 in charge*
I had with me a few loyal supporters ready for any defense if ne
necessary,but the organization, after sone hours of nanoeuvering and one or
two messages sent in for the purpose of drawing ne off, entered into a par
ley with Cant.Hay,which resulted in in "agreement” whereby a committee was
appointed to examine into each particular case and issue the food made upon
this committee’s recommendation* Ihereafter no serious trouble occurred,nor
any suffering for want of food* On the other hand,above Dawson, the reports
going out to the States were of such grave character that Congress made an
2?£r°?r^?^on °* j * 200*000*00 for the relief of starving miners in the Klon-,
dike, to be expended by the Secretary of War, Prompt action was taken* Lt*
u.B.Devore was sent to Norway to purchase and bring over from Lapland 500
sled reindeer for transporting sunplies^ The best pack train in the States
was sent to Haines Mission to aid In the work. Two of the 14th InfLtrv rL
pames were sent up in February, 1858. Lt.Dev^e carried out £s £art o? thT
-p ogram successfully, and enthusiasm ran high in the nnospect of real pion
dftpr be »rne.' 1 £°.not kno’v the exact date of the arrival of the rein
deer at Haines Mission,but about this time three things happened which had
an important bearing upon the situation.
„ JL)'1'he r!inderr bef*an t0 di® rapidly of exhaustion from the long
t£et tu’ ™ C^nR9 fr0n their aocusto“®d fo°d! 2) information was received
=v?e™Kl0vdlf8 mfer3 were not starving, (quite the contrary); 3) the
interest br°k<3 0ut,and buried the incident in oblivion so far as public
interest was concerned# y
-Q - +. £ left ??or*fc by do^ tean for the outside via Daw
son and the Chilkoot fass.on >ebr.22d, 1898, to nake renort to the War Depart
ment. I closed the "relief station" at Fort Yukon with the opening of riS
navigation, in the early sumer of 1898, and proceeded dorm river tl St lvichl
aeJ'+pr^lnR- Xu v,1™ t0 968 General Rafail and Capt.Edie off for the'states
5h! 8,anish ,/ar. leaving the writer in command. Up to this time wa had
but little news in Alaska of the war. except the fact tiat it was L PrPgLs
The winter of 1897-1398 had witnessed the struggle of thousands
°If\the ^ea and s^8’vay passes,who floated do-m to Dawson upon the open
MiPhPel 1316 S^1+?,an1d suraier of 1898 brought on ocean steamers tP St.
Michael many additional thousands,with vast quantities of supplied and mat
erials for the building of river boats to ascend the Yukon!These ePPsl^
and materials were piled along the shores of St.Mickael Island wherever
space could be found,and the small detachment there was kept busy during the
summer P-servingorderad^ting disputes, and giving aid
,Ari •• b8pt,3d “he S’°' Humboldt' arrived with a battery of artillerv
200 men equipped as Infantry,under command of 2d U.Cieo.G.McMaLs. She onlP
ot er officer was ~d Lt.Oliver I>.Spaulding,Coast Artillery, Three contract
surgeons accompanied the command. I ascended the river again bPfPrP ?hP
close of navigation,taking with me «.McManus and about 80 men of the mixed
detachment,as far as Circle,which became our base for tie winter Lt Rell
and 55 men were left at danpart, and Caat„Walker and lit. Spaulding *
of the command at St.Michael. ' Spaulding and the rest
(To be continued next week).