Remembering Solomon Bertram West

Solomon Bertram West (1878-1911) son of William West (1853-1907) and Ella Leavitt (1855-1895) born in New Hampshire.

From Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times, Volume 49

1st Lieutenant Solomon B. West, 16th U. S. infantry, who perished in a blizzard near Tishou, Alaska, on February 23, was recently transferred to that regiment, having been connected with the 22d infantry from the time of his appointment to the Regular Army, February 2, 1901, until last year, when he went to the 16th infantry. He was a private and sergeant major in the 1st New Hampshire infantry and second lieutenant of the 46th United States volunteers from August 17, 1899, to May 31, 1901. He was a graduate of the Infantry and Cavalry School in 1903 and a native of New Hampshire; 32 years of age.

A curious incident of Lieutenant West's death is that the wife of a deputy United States marshal, for whom he was making the trail, walked through the blizzard safely into Tishou and reported the fatality. In October, 1905, he commanded one of the detachments under Major McCoy, which ran down and killed Datto Ali, in the Philippines. The datto was strongly in trenched in the swamps, but Lieutenant West with other troops made a hike of more than one hundred miles, penetrated the marshes, took Ali by surprise and killed him. Returning from the Philippines, Lieutenant West went to Alaska with the 22d infantry. When that regiment was brought home last year Lieutenant West was so much attached to the country that he exchanged into the 16th infantry, which was replacing the 22d in Alaska. His body shipped to Edward B. Leavitt, Chichester, N. H., June 14, 1911.