David H . Jarvis David Henry Jarvis ( August 24 , 1862 - June 23 , 1911 ) was a captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service . During the harsh winter of 1897 – 1898 , Jarvis , then serving as a First Lieutenant aboard the US Revenue Cutter " Bear " , led the Overland Relief Expedition , bringing a three - man rescue team with a herd of about 400 reindeer across 1 , 500 miles of tundra and pack - ice to Point Barrow , Alaska , to bring needed food to 265 whalers whose ships had become stranded in the ice off the northern Alaska coast . Overland Relief Expedition . Jarvis was born in Berlin , Maryland . He was appointed to the United States Revenue Cutter Service in 1881 . He served aboard cutters " Hamilton " , " Rush " , and " Bear " , and devoted the majority of his career to pioneering and developing maritime activities in the Bering Sea off Alaska ' s northwest coast . He was first assigned to the Bering Sea Patrol in 1888 . In 1897 , eight whaling ships were trapped in an Arctic ice field surrounding Point Barrow , the northernmost point of Alaska . Trapped by ice , the harsh environment , and a dwindling food supply , the whalers had little chance of surviving . 0n November 29 , 1897 , the " Bear " , commanded by Captain Francis Tuttle , sailed from Port Townsend , Washington . It was too late in the year for the cutter to push through the ice , so it was decided the party must go overland , enlisting the help of natives , stopping by a reindeer station to purchase a herd of reindeer . The overland trek left from Cape Vancouver , Alaska on December 16 , 1897 . The expedition was led by First Lieutenant Jarvis , the executive officer of the " Bear " ; the second - in - command was Second Lieutenant Ellsworth P . Bertholf . They were accompanied by Samuel J . Call , the ship ' s surgeon of the " Bear " , and for part of the way by the enlisted man F . Koltchoff . They were also assisted by William Thomas Lopp , the Superintendent of the Teller Reindeer Station , and Charlie Antisarlook , a native reindeer herder . The distance to Point Barrow overland from Cape Vancouver was roughly 1 , 500 miles . The rescue party traveled and carried the provisions using dog sleds , sleds pulled by reindeer , snowshoes , and skis . Because of a lack of trained dogs , Jarvis instructed Bertholf to continue searching the Inuit villages for sled teams while he and Call went ahead to Cape Prince of Wales , where there were large numbers of domesticated reindeer . Bertholf caught up with Jarvis and Call and helped re - provision the relief mission . The group reached Point Barrow on March 29 , 1898 , having walked most of the distance and endured temperatures as low as −45 degrees Fahrenheit . Jarvis assumed command in accordance with orders from the Secretary of the Treasury . The expedition brought 382 reindeer to the whalers , having lost only 66 . On July 28 , 1898 , the " Bear " reached Point Barrow and the expedition officers could rejoin their ship . In spring 1899 Jarvis was promoted to command of the " Bear " and returned north to pay the Inuit for the reindeer . Recognition . President William McKinley recognized the achievements of the rescue in a letter dated January 17 , 1899 to the United States Congress , in which he requested of Congress " That gold medals of honor of appropriate design , to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury , be awarded to Lieutenants Jarvis and Bertholf and Dr . Call , commemorative of their heroic struggles in aid of suffering fellow - men . " In recognition of their work , Jarvis , Bertholf and Call received Congressional Gold Medals in 1902 . The statute reads as follows : Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled , That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to bestow a gold medal of honor , of such design as he may approve , upon First Lieutenant David H . Jarvis , Second Lieutenant Ellsworth P . Bertholf , and Doctor Samuel J . Call , surgeon , all of the Revenue - Cutter Service and members of the overland expedition of eighteen hundred and ninety - seven and eighteen hundred and ninety - eight for the relief of the whaling fleet in the arctic regions , in recognition of the heroic service rendered by them in connection with said expedition . Later career and death . Three years later , Jarvis stood by his post as a special government agent at Nome , Alaska during a smallpox epidemic . In February 1902 , he was named collector of customs for the District of Alaska by President Theodore Roosevelt . In 1905 , Jarvis resigned from the collectorship and retired as a captain from the revenue cutter service , becoming manager of a Seattle salmon cannery and overseeing the development of the Alaska copper districts and the building of a railroad by a syndicate consisting of the Guggenheim family and J . P . Morgan . President Roosevelt , who had recommended Jarvis for the position with the syndicate , twice offered him the governorship of Alaska . Jarvis was a close friend and adviser of Judge James Wickersham , who wrote of him in 1901 , " I am very fond of Capt . Jarvis ; he is a loveable , honest and competent man — I think those three words cover about all that is necessary in a man . " When Wickersham ran for delegate to Congress in 1908 on an anti - Guggenheim platform , he broke with Jarvis and accused him of corruption , bribery and other crimes . Jarvis resigned from various offices connected with the syndicate . Jarvis committed suicide on June 23 , 1911 , shooting himself in his room at the Seattle Athletic Club , one day after Wickersham demanded a new investigation of him for allegedly defrauding the government on coal contracts . Jarvis ' suicide note read , " Tired and worn out . " Wickersham , accused by his critics of responsibility for Jarvis ' death , commented in his diary , " Poor Jarvis . Until he became the employee of the Guggenheim bunch of Jew thieves he was a man of honor and courage . " Captain Ellsworth Bertholf commented , " I lived with him in the same tent , was his comrade in times of hardship and danger . . . Not many people really knew him , for he was a silent man . " Legacy . The USCGC " Jarvis " ( WHEC - 725 ) , a United States Coast Guard cutter , was later named for Captain Jarvis . The Coast Guard ' s Captain David H . Jarvis Award is presented in recognition of inspirational leadership . Mount Jarvis , a shield volcano in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska , was named for him in 1903 by F . C . Schrader of the United States Geological Survey . Jarvis ' Congressional Gold Medal is now part of the collection of the U . S . Coast Guard Museum . Personal life . Jarvis married Ethel Taber on April 2 , 1896 . They had three children : Anna , David H . and William .