Green was ghostwriter for Byrd’s Skyward, participated in MacMillan’s Crocker Land Expedition, and was responsible for killing a native.
George P. Putnam. 1926-28. Contains 2 typed carbons of memoranda for Putnam. N.B. memo dated 4/27/1926 re a conversation between Donald B. MacMillan and Putnam about the proposed polar flight of Richard E. Byrd, as well as about Knud Rasmussen, neither of whom enjoyed his good opinion: …Byrd has no hope or thought of success on this flight. The whole expedition is for the purpose of publicity. Byrd’s ambition is to be Governor of Virginia…Byrd knows, as I know, that it is utterly impossible to do anything with a heavier-than-air machine in the Arctic. When Byrd says he flew 6000 miles last year out of Etah, it is an untruth…. ; concerning Rasmussen, he says: Rasmussen deliberately went off and left his men to starve in Nyboeland. Rasmussen makes every Eskimo pay ten fox-skins before he will start dealing with them at all… .
Box 1, Fold 17. Knud Rasmussen. 1915-16. Contains 2 TL by the famous Danish arctic explorer and ethnologist. Dated 11/22/1915 to Henry Fairfield Osborn and 1/22/1916 to George H. Sherwood, acting chairman of Committee in Charge of the Crocker Land Expedition, both refer to the return expedition of the Crocker Land exploration team.
Box 2, Fold 4. Crocker Land Expedition: Fitzhugh Green Journal Feb. 19 to 23, 1914; May 1, 1914: Green reading Marcus Aurelius during sledge journal (verso p. 36). Blank leaf after p. 36, may have been at time of the Eskimo killing. There are 5 typed lines and three handwritten notes: 1 large sized string of profanity. Leaf 37: Second Spring Trip, 1914. Note at top: Rewritten for Mac to be sent to Harper’s Magazine. [Heavily edited typescript. Leaf 44 is Green’s account of the killing, May 1, 1914.]
Box 2, Fold 5. Ten-day handwritten diary, including a bear hunt and some coastal profiles.
Box 2, Fold 7. Crocker Land Expedition: Donald MacMillan Journal Extract . May 4, 1914. Contains an extract from the journal kept by Donald B. MacMillan during the Crocker Land Expedition. Entry for Monday, May 4, 1914, 55th day. Contains account given to MacMillan by F Green of the circumstances leading to the shooting of the Eskimo Pee-ah-wah-to by FG. 2 typed pp. Originally attached to TLS from George Sherwood to FG, dated 5/12/1921 (see Folder 1:20)
TLS 3/30/1917, to FG from George Sherwood, 2 pp. on Crocker Land Expedition letterhead. Refers to preceding report originally enclosed with this letter: My dear Mr. Green, I am enclosing herewith a copy of a report that I made to our Executive Committee in regard to the status of the Crocker Land Expedition, and I have now the necessary authorization to procure a third ship and despatch her to Etah this summer. My expectation is that we will charter one of the Newfoundland sealers of the "Neptune" or "Erik" type and we hope to send Bob Bartlett as captain of her. If we succeed in making these arrangements, I feel that we will have done everything that is possible to make certain the rescue of our friends….I was very glad to receive your letter of March 2, and appreciated your willingness to go north again…. Later, when we have secured a ship and our plans are more definite, I wish it might be possible for you to get leave of absence and come to New York in late April or early May to assist us in making the final arrangements, but with the crisis now facing the country, I presume that leave of absence for any officer is out of the question….
As told to MacMillan by FG: Twice I found Pee-ah-wah-to trying to get away from me by leaving the trail. Watching my chance I quickly grabbed the rifle from the sledge, I asked him where the igloo was. Starting out in the direction of his pointed arm I ordered him to follow closely behind me. Looking back a few minutes later I noticed that he had left the trail again. I shot over his head. He did not stop so I shot him through the body. He fell back against the upstanders. As the dogs did not stop I thought that possibly he might still be alive so I shot again splitting his head open so that his brains fell out….
Box 2, Fold 9. Aug. 20, 1915 to July 26, 1916 ms. diary. A stylish writer.