A. W. (Adolphus Washington) Greely

Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1844, Adolphus Washington Greely enlisted in the Union Army as a teenager during the Civil War and stayed in military service for decades. He later became a leading officer in the U.S. Signal Corps, where he was associated with major work in communications, meteorology, and national weather reporting.

Greely is best remembered for commanding the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881–1884, a scientific mission to the high Arctic. The expedition gathered important observations and pushed exploration farther north, but its return turned disastrous after failed resupply efforts left the party stranded; only a handful of the men survived to be rescued.

He went on to rise to the rank of major general and remained a prominent public figure well into old age. Late in life he received the Medal of Honor for his long record of public service, and his name remains closely tied to both Arctic exploration and the development of American military science.