Evening star., 1935-10-21

who was referred to on the floor of the
House by Chairman John j. McSWaln
of the Military Affairs Committee as
"a grand old hero"
Accordingly, on his birthday that
month. Secretary of War Dern pinned
the coveted medal to the white-beard-
ed veterans coat ''in recognition OF
his life of splendid public service"
Gen. Greely was the third man in
Army history to receive the medal by
special act of Congress, ignoring ira
ditional Army restrictions. The first
to receive such an award was Col.
John O. Skinner, Indian fighter, and
the second was Col Charles A. Lind
bergh.
Oficial Citation.
The oficial citation accompanying
the award read: Adolphus w. Greely.
major general, United States Army.
retired-For his life of splendid pub
lie service, begun on March 81. 1874.
having enlisted as private in the
United States Army on July 26. 1861,
and by successive promotions was COM
missioned as major general February
10, 1906. and retired by operation of
law on his 64th birthday"
The presentation took place in the
small living room of Gen. Greely's
home, in the presence of a small COM
pany Of officials, friends and relatives.
A color guard formed a background
for the ritual. A troop of the Sd Cav
airy, from Fort Myer. stood at atten-
tion in the street outside, and the Sd
Cavalry Band played the National
Anthem as the ceremony was con-
clude0.
Gen. Mitchell, who. after serving un-
der Gen. Greely in the Signal Corps,
became chief of the Army Air Serv-
Ice, read q review Of Greely's career
during the medal ceremony. Since
it accurately summarizes Gen.
Greely's public service, the review in
part Is reproduced here:
When the war between the States
broke out in 1861, Greely. although
under age, enlisted when he was IT.
He first saw enemy fire at Balls Bluff,
near Leesburg, Va. When the Army
of the Potomac was organized, the
10th Massachusetts,, to which he be-
longed, became a part of it, and he
participated in the Peninsular Cam
paign and in the Seven Days Battles,
where he distinguished himself and
was wounded. At Antietam, he dis
covered flank attack against his regi-
ment and called attention to 1t. fear
lessly exposing himself to enemy fire.
He thus saved not only his regiment
but his whole brigade from a serious
disaster. He was badly wounded and
left on the field. A Confederate SOL
dier attempted to capture him but he
escaped and made his way under the
trajectory of the fire of RICKETTS, Bat
terry, up q ravine to the Union lines.
As soon as he recovered from his
wounds he rejoined his organization.
Wounded IN Battle.
"At the battle of Fredericksburg q
pontoon bridge being laid opposite the
town was destroyed by Confederate
fire and it was decided to force a
crossing in individual boats. Greely
was in the first one. He was in COM
mand Of the patrol that went up the
main street Of Fredericksburg, the for
lorn hope that held en- until relieved
by other troops. In this battle, out of
800 men in his regiment, 108 were
killed and wounded. Greely himself
was wounded but kept with his COM
pany. B Of the 10Th Massachusetts,.
which had been first In the city and
last to get out. For this he was pro-
NOTED from corporal to sergeant.
Later on he became a captain and
served during reconstruction days in
New Orleans, where there was ter
rible yellow fever epidemic. After
the war he was assigned duty in the
West and served against the Indians.
In 1867 he was detailed to the Signal
Corps and, on account OF his technical
knowledge, was given the task Of
building the first telegraph line
through to the Pacific Coast, which
was completed to San Diego, Calf.
After this he built telegraph lines
to Oregon through a trackless waste
and q country infested by hostile
Indians.
when the United States became
q party to an international agreement
for the establishment Of circumpolar
stations for meteorological observa-
tions and discoveries, Gen. Greely was
given command Of the United States