Thomas McArthur Anderson


Happy Birthday to Colonel Anderson born on January 21, 1836 in Chillicoth, Ohio.

He came to Skagway in December 1897 with the 14th Infantry. Above, soldiers of the 14th Infantry parade in their superb dress helmets in downtown Skagway, Alaska, 1898. They were posted to Skagway at the request of Alaska’s territorial governor, John Brady, to protect Skagway from hordes of “gamblers, thugs and lewd women” – no doubt the sight of the serried ranks of pickelhaubes helped bring the gamblers, thugs, and those lewd women back to a sense of civic responsibility.

Anderson was the commander of companies B & H. He had a long military career and died a Brigadier General in 1917 in Portland, Oregon and is buried in Arlington.

from “Duty Station Northwest” by Lymon L. Woodman