James Markham Marshall Ambler was an American military surgeon and explorer. He served as a Confederate cavalryman during the American Civil War and, after the war, a United States Navy surgeon.
Background
James Markham Marshall Ambler was born on December 30, 1848 at "The Dell, " Markham, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Doctor Richard Cary and Susan (Marshall) Ambler. He was a descendant of Richard Ambler of Yorkshire, who settled in Virginia early in the eighteenth century. His mother, characterized by one of his biographers as "a wise and great-hearted woman, " was a niece of Chief Justice Marshall and a grand-daughter of Robert Morris.
Education
Ambler attended the neighborhood schools until his sixteenth birthday. He entered Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) for the school year 1865-1866 and remained there until 1867, when he went to the University of Maryland to study medicine. After graduating he took the government examinations.
Career
Ambler was sixteen, when he served during the last months of the Civil War, enlisting in the 12th Virginia Cavalry of the Confederate Army.
In April 1874 he was commissioned an assistant surgeon in the United States Navy. During the remainder of the year and a part of the year following he served on the Mayflower and the Kansas, of the North Atlantic fleet, and was then transferred to the training ship Minnesota.
In 1877 he was made a passed assistant surgeon and transferred to the Naval Hospital at Norfolk. It was while there that a telegram came to him from Lieutenant George W. De Long asking him to accept the post of surgeon on the Jeannette, then being fitted out for its historic voyage in the Arctic regions. He immediately left for his old home to consult with his mother. They both agreed that it was his duty to go, and he accepted.
From the time the Jeannette sailed on July 8, 1879, until September 6, when the ship was solidly frozen in, his duties were those of ordinary routine. From then until the released ship sank in June 1881 and on until the final tragedy he bore an increasingly arduous part in the attempt to ward off disaster. Though he could not foresee the cases of lead poisoning that were to come from the soldering of the food cans, it was due to his vigilance that no case of scurvy appeared. In the effort to reach land after the retreat from the ship he acted as roadmaster, having charge of the bridging and rafting, and also had the duty of husbanding and apportioning the meager food stores of the party.
After the separation of the three boats off the shores of the Lena delta in the storm of September 16, the party of De Long, Ambler, and eleven others landed and struggled on buffeted by storms and worn down by hunger and cold. On October 9, when the store of food was almost exhausted, two men, subsequently rescued by a native, were sent ahead for succor. Ambler declined the offer to go.
His last entry in his journal, dated October 20, addressed to his brother and containing a tender message to his mother, tells of the suffering endured by the party. The end came ten days later. De Long, Ambler, and Ah Sam, the Chinese cook, forged somewhat ahead of the remainder of the party and then, exhausted, lay down and expired. To Chief Engineer Melville, who discovered the bodies March 23, 1882, it was evident that Ambler had been the last to die. The remains were brought to New York February 20, 1884, and Ambler's body was buried at Markham, his birthplace.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"In the histone of Arctic research there has only been one ship that was free from scurvy; this was the Jeannette. This is the best encomium that I can pass upon Ambler. On the march his services were invaluable. During the illness of Chipp he was roadmaster as well as surgeon. Afterward he volunteered to work in harness, and requested that in addition to caring for the sick he might be allowed to participate in the labors of the working parties. Wherever we were and whatever our situation, Ambler proved himself a skilled physician, an excellent officer and a noble man. " - George W. Melville, chief engineer of the expedition