Francis Joseph Fitzgerald (12 April 1869 – 11 February 1911) was a Canadian who became a celebrated
Boer War veteran and the first commander of the
Royal North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territor ...
detachment at
Herschel Island in the
Western Arctic (1903). From December 1910 until February 1911, he led a mail patrol from
Fort McPherson
Fort McPherson was a U.S. Army military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, bordering the northern edge of the city of East Point, Georgia. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Ar ...
southward to
Dawson City. When the patrol did not arrive in time, a search party, led by Corporal
William Dempster
William John Duncan Dempster (21 October 1876 – 25 October 1964) was a member of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in the Yukon, Yukon Territory during the early 20th century. He gained notice for his involvement in finding the Lost Patrol, ...
, was sent from Dawson City and found the bodies of Fitzgerald and the other patrol members. The trip became known as "
The Lost Patrol"
and as "one of
Yukon’s greatest tragedies."
Halifax Public Gardens
The Halifax Public Gardens are Victorian-era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located in the Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Halifax Peninsula near the popular shopping district of Spri ...
, Nova Scotia (1911)
File:FitzgeraldBridgePlaquePublicGardensHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg, Francis Fitzgerald Bridge Plaque
File:FortMcPhersonNWT.JPG, Tomb for "The Lost Patrol", Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories (right of the flagpole)
File:dempster 2769.jpg, Dempster Highway, south of Inuvik
Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service cen ...
, Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, named after Inspector Dempster who found "The Lost Patrol"
File:Dempsterhighway.jpg, Dempster Highway near the Richardson Mountains
See also
*
Military history of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia (also known as Mi'kma'ki and Acadia) is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Canadian Maritime provinces and th ...
*
History of Yukon
The history of Yukon covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians through the Beringia land bridge approximately 20,000 years ago. In the 18th century, Russian explorers began to trade with the First Nations people along the Alaskan coa ...
References
External links
Officer Down Memorial Page - RCMP*
Canadian Biography Online - FitzgeraldThe Lost Patrol - Virtual Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Francis Joseph
1869 births
1911 deaths
Canadian military personnel of the Second Boer War
Canadian police officers killed in the line of duty
Disasters in Yukon
Military history of Nova Scotia
People from Halifax, Nova Scotia
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers