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.

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