Start of career Brainard enlisted in the
United States Army in September 1876. In August 1877, Brainard was one of four soldiers assigned to escort the Army's commanding general,
William Tecumseh Sherman and Sherman's party on an inspection tour of
Yellowstone National Park. In 1877 and 1878, he served under
Nelson Appleton Miles in Montana during the
Nez Perce War and
Bannock War. He was promoted to
corporal in October 1877, and
sergeant in July 1879.
Arctic exploration In 1880, Brainard was selected for the
Howgate expedition, which started for
Greenland in July 1880, but turned back after a heavy storm damaged the expedition's ship. In 1881, he was detailed as
first sergeant for the
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, which was commanded by
Adolphus Greely. Twenty-five men began the expedition, which ran into difficulty when several attempts to resupply it failed, and several rescue attempts were forced to turn back. Among those who died was
James Booth Lockwood, second-in-command and Brainard's companion on many excursions, including their record breaking push north to latitude 83° 23' 30". Brainard wrote: Brainard was later credited with saving as many expedition members as possible by closely rationing the group's limited food. Shortly before the survivors were rescued in the spring of 1884, Brainard, freezing, starving, and suffering from
scurvy wrote: "Our own condition is so wretched, so palpably miserable, that death would be welcomed rather than feared ..." On that day, he was reportedly near death himself, too weak to hold a pencil so he could make an entry in his log. In 1886, he was commissioned a
second lieutenant in the
2nd Cavalry "as recognition of the gallant and meritorious services rendered by him in the Arctic expedition of 1881–1884." He then had the distinction of being the only living US Army officer, active or retired, who had been commissioned as a commendation for specific services. In 1905, Brainard received promotion to permanent lieutenant colonel. Brainard was a charter member of
The Explorers Club and served its president from 1912 to 1913. He was promoted to
colonel in June 1912. In 1914, Brainard was assigned as U.S.
military attaché in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. In October 1917, Brainard received promotion to temporary
brigadier general. During
World War I, he served as
military attaché in
Lisbon, Portugal, and he retired as a brigadier general in October 1919. ==Family==