Frederick, Julius R., 1852-1904

Julius R. Frederick was born in either Germany or Ohio (two sources listed below are at variance on the matter) in 1852. In either case, both his parents were from Germany. He grew up near St. Mary’s, Ohio, and joined the U.S. Army around 1876. He was stationed at various posts in Missouri and spent five years under Colonel Nelson Miles fighting in the Indian Wars. In 1881 he volunteered for the International Polar Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, commonly referred to as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition or the Greely Expedition. Lieutenant A.W. Greely of the 5th U.S. Cavalry led the expedition to perform investigations about the nature of the magnetic pole, to establish a permanent international polar station at Discovery Harbour in Greenland, and to attempt to reach the Farthest North.

Private Julius Frederick of Company L, 2nd Cavalry, joined the expedition as the regular cook. At a height of five feet two inches, he was known as "Shorty" Frederick among expedition members. Among the twenty-five men there were an astronomer, a photographer, soldiers, and meteorologists. The expedition departed in July 1881 bound for Greenland. Over the next three years its members engaged in exploration and scientific observation. The members of the team interacted with the native Eskimos, explored the coast of Greenland, and attempted to reach the farthest point north. Relief vessels were supposed to arrive in September 1883 to refresh the team’s supplies, but the ships never arrived. Supplies soon dwindled down to nothing and the members of the team began dying of disease, starvation, and thirst. On 6 April 1884 a much-weakened Frederick went with the group’s photographer Sergeant George W. Rice southward to Baird Inlet to recover frozen beef for their starving comrades. Rice died in Frederick’s arms hours after they had reached their goal (an engraving of this scene appears in A.W. Greely’s Three Years of Arctic Service [1886], vol. 2, facing p. 286). Frederick buried him and then, although near death himself, managed to bring back as much of the beef as possible. In reward for his courage and bravery in the face of death, Lt. Greely field-promoted Frederick to the rank of sergeant. Julius Frederick was the first man to hear the bells of the ship Thetis as it arrived 22 June 1884 to rescue the surviving members of the expedition.

Out of the twenty-five men who ventured out with the expedition in 1881, only six survived. The survivors A.W. Greely, Maurice Connell, Francis Long, David Brainard, Henry Biederbick, and Julius Frederick returned to the United States and remained lifelong friends, supporting each other in times of need. The men fought for years to obtain just compensation for their duties. They also worked with several congressmen in their attempts to receive military pensions, and Congress finally passed several bills in their favor. Greely remained in the U.S. Army, where he was appointed head of the signal corps; Brainard went to work for the War Department; and Biederbick became the Secretary of the Arctic Club.

Julius Frederick came to Indianapolis, eventually to work for the U.S. Weather Bureau. His name appears in the city’s Polk directories first in 1886, as a Julius R. Frederick working at a saloon at 665 Virginia Avenue and living at 36 Shelby St. The next year Frederick appears as a confectioner, living and working at 53 N. Pennsylvania St. From 1888 to 1891, Frederick is shown residing at 336 S. Alabama St. During these years, his occupation is listed as engineer in 1888 and clerk in 1891 (no occupation is shown for the two middle years). Finally, in 1893 he is listed as an assistant observer for the Weather Bureau.

Frederick married Laura Keckler in or around 1885 and had two daughters, naming them Thetis (born in 1886) and Sabine (born in 1889) after the ship that rescued him and the cape where he was stranded for two years, respectively. Frederick’s life in Indianapolis seems to have been happy and productive. He worked in the Majestic Building in the Weather Bureau office. He remained in touch with his comrades. He was friends with P.E. McDonnell of Chicago’s McDonnell Odometer Company, who tried to interest Frederick in a plan to build an airship in order to reach the North Pole before Admiral Peary. The Indianapolis press was very interested in Frederick’s life and experiences and wrote several articles about him, including his meeting with the famous Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, and the newspapers kept readers apprised of Congressional action to give him and his fellow survivors due compensation for their services. According to the answers he gave on a Weather Bureau survey, he was temperate, did not smoke, and did not know how to operate a typewriter. He did own and operate a bicycle.

Frederick was a member of the Marion Club in Indianapolis as well as the Army and Navy League, and his friends inducted him into the Arctic Club shortly before his death. Health problems had plagued Frederick ever since his service in the Arctic and the doctors eventually diagnosed him with stomach cancer. In spring of 1903 he was injured while trying to calm a runaway horse. His health deteriorated rapidly in 1903 until he was confined to his bed in autumn. His comrades wrote him letters of encouragement, wishing him health and declaring their unwavering loyalty to him. They praised Frederick for his courage and good nature and seemed optimistic about his recovery. Julius R. Frederick died in Indianapolis on 6 January 1904.