Big Wolf - The Adventurous Life of Lieutenant Frederick G. Schwatka - by Douglas W Wamsley (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The definitive biography of Lieutenant Frederick G. Schwatka. Early in life he was a second lieutenant in the Third Cavalry in the Dakota Territory. He also studied law and medicine, and was admitted to the bar association of Nebraska in 1875. He received his medical degree from Bellevue Medical College in New York the same year. In 1876 he led the initial cavalry charge at the Battle of Slim Buttes. Today, he is best remembered for the search for the lost papers of the Franklin Expedition, and for later explorations down the Yukon River, and also to Alaska and northeastern Mexico. He authored several books about his adventures, and died in Portland, Oregon in 1892"--

Book Synopsis

Lieutenant Frederick G. Schwatka lived a short, but adventurous life filled with notable exploits largely forgotten today. He is best remembered, to the extent remembered at all, as leading an historic Arctic sledge journey while searching for the written records of the ill-fated expedition commanded by the British explorer Sir John Franklin. Schwatka accomplished one of the nineteenth century's most outstanding feats of northern travel by virtue of an open-minded willingness to place his personal trust and reliance in his Inuit companions, who proved instrumental to that success. But Schwatka's eventful life embodied far more than one noteworthy trek to the Far North. His was a remarkable career that merits wider recognition. The proud son of hardy Oregon pioneers, motivated by a spirit of Manifest Destiny, Frederick Schwatka was an enthusiastic participant and meaningful contributor to the country's western and northern expansion. During his lifetime, his restless nature led him to pursue his own course and a wide range of professional undertakings, first as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, and then as an intrepid explorer, travel writer and nineteenth-century media personality.

Though he could forge sound relationships in the field, he was a contentious figure whose headstrong individualism struggled within the confines of a strict military bureaucracy and with the scientific establishment. Nonetheless, he rose to become one of the most prominent explorers and well-known Americans during his lifetime and thus achieved a level of fame he so desired. As an explorer-for-hire, with his prolific pen and an engaging style, the tales of his adventures brought widespread publicity to the distant and unfamiliar lands of his travels, including the then newly acquired territory of Alaska. Drawing upon diaries, correspondence, and other archival and published sources from the time, Big Wolf brings to light the full story of this controversial man of such varied talents. As the first full-length biography of Schwatka, this book examines Schwatka's role in rolling back an untamed frontier and filling in its "blank" spaces, his rise to fame, and his role in shaping our understanding of those little-known regions and their peoples.

Review Quotes

Frederick Schwatka made major contributions to the nineteenth century's unfolding of knowledge of Arctic geography, history and ethnography, but his own story has remained largely untold. This gap has now been filled. Douglas Wamsley demonstrates his usual thoroughness and sensitivity in presenting a complete and nuanced biography of Frederick Schwatka. A fascinating read.

-Kenn Harper, Arctic historian, author of Minik the New York Eskimo and the series In Those Days: Collected Writings in Arctic History

For those who might ask why an obscure, largely forgotten explorer should warrant a full biography, Wamsley's book provides some compelling answers. From Frederick Schwatka's birth in Galena, Illinois in 1849, to the family settlement and his childhood in Oregon, to his West Point admission, to his military career, and above all to his record sledging journey and contribution to the Franklin Search, and finally to his desolute and impoverished end: through all of this Wamsley shows a talent for strong narrative coupled with a genius for ferreting out the secrets of the relevant archives. His very readable book is a major contribution to the literature of Arctic exploration.

- David Stam, Senior Scholar, History Department, Syracuse University, author of Adventures in Polar Reading

Wamsley's diligence in research, already evident in his previous book, Polar Hayes, illuminates and clarifies many poorly understood chapters of Schwatka's career, and vividly brings to life this courageous yet complicated man. Today, with both of Franklin's ships now found, and the work of archaeologists now corroborating and extending many of Schwatka's discoveries, there could hardly be imagined a better time for his return to the Arctic stage.

- from the Foreword by Russell A. Potter