Tag: infantry

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William Payne Jackson

Captain Jackson arrived in Skagway on July 9, 1904 with the Third Infantry. He was the Quartermaster. He was born on Feb 11, 1869 in Palmyra, Missouri and went to West Point where he graduated in 1891. After serving in Skagway for a year, he married Julia Carr in Galesburg, Illinois (seen above – Julia looks a little wiped out here).

Jackson stayed in the Army becoming a Major General. In World War One he received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, as Brigade Commander, 74th Infantry Brigade, 37th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in operations against the enemy in France.

Brigadier General Jackson died on January 13, 1945 in San Francisco where he is buried.

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Thomas Childs Woodbury


Colonel Thomas Woodbury of the 3rd Infantry A,B, and C Companies was born on this day December 2, 1850 in Henderson, Kentucky. Woodbury joined the military in 1899 in Cebu, Phillipine Islands during the conflict. He commanded battalions and won medals for bravery there and in the Spanish American War. His father and grandfather were both Generals in the military.
The Third Infantry came to Skagway in July of 1904 replacing the 8th Infantry.
Col. Woodbury then went to Fort Seward in Haines in November 1904. See the soldiers on parade on the grounds of the fort above.
In 1906 they went back to Washington State.

The specific history of the military in Skagway and Dyea is interesting if not confusing. Here is the list of military units and their dates of arrival:
-9th Cavalry arrives 1897
-14th Infantry arrives 16 Dec 1897 and Feb 1898
-company L of the 24th (the African American unit) arrived May 15, 1899 from Ft. Douglas, Utah, they came up on the steamer Humboldt.
-106th Coast Artillery (32nd Company arrives March to May 1902) arrives 1902
-3rd Infantry arrives July – Oct 1904
-8th Infantry arrives July 1904 (they go to Haines in November 1904)
-There were also a couple of earlier military expeditions, as early as 1865.

Skagway Museum Record; “Duty Station Northwest” by Woodman; “Biographical Register of the Officers…” by G.W.Cullum; familysearch

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Henry Walter Hovey


Major/Captain Hovey of the U.S. Company L, 24th Infantry came to Skagway on May 15, 1899. Their first camp in Dyea burned so they rented a barracks in Skagway and stayed until 1902. Although the 24th Infantry was an all-African American company, Hovey was probably white. He was a member of the Arctic Brotherhood in 1901 and, according to the New York Times, he was also at a Midnight Sun conspiracy meeting in November 1901.
Henry Hovey was born in 1852 in Vasselboro, Maine, and he died on this day, November 15, 1908 in Northfield Vermont from heart failure probably resulting from something he contracted in the Phillipines. He was 56 year old.

from the online history of Norwich University, 1819-1911: “her history, her graduates, her roll of honor: He [Hovey]joined his regiment, the 24th United States Infantry at Fort Douglas, Utah, March 1899; but soon after reaching the post, the regiment was ordered to the Philippine Islands. He, with his company “L”,was ordered to southeastern Alaska, where he was given command of the district, with headquarters at Camp Dyea. This camp being destroyed by forest fires, July 18, 1899, he removed to Skagway, where he remained until ordered back to the University in September, 1902. He was promoted major, August 14, 1903 and was ordered to the Philippine Islands, July 1906, arriving there in September, he was in command of Cebu, Dojinrtnicnf of Visayas, September, 1906-November, 1907, excepting a few weeks, when he was in command of the regiment at Camp Bumpus, Leyte. He was retired from active duty, November 7, 1907 for “disability in line of duty” and returned to the United States in…”

1902 directory;family chronicles; Skagway Museum Record; NY Times article