Adolphus Washington Greely was born on March 27, 1844 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He enlisted in 1861 as a private in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at age 17 and achieved the rank of brevet major of US volunteers by the end of the Civil War. After the war, he remained in the Army as a second lieutenant in the 36th Infantry. In this position, Greely began to study telegraphy and electricity under Brigadier General Albert Meyer, founder of the Signal Corps. From 1867 to 1870, Greely worked establishing telegraph lines on the frontier and assisted Meyer in the organization of the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, D. C. He earned promotion to first lieutenant in 1873.

Greely married Henrietta Nesmith (1846-1918) on June 20, 1878 and the couple had six children: Antoinette Greely (b.1879); Adola Greely (b.1881); John Nesmith Greely (b.1885); Rose Ishbel Greely (b.1887); Adolphus Washington Greely (b.1889); and Gertrude Gale Greely (b.1891).

From 1881 to 1884, Greely led the International Polar Expedition promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps to establish one of a chain of meteorological-observation stations. Known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition or the Greely Expedition, the expedition resulted in multiple rescue attempts. After serving more than twenty years in the Army, Greely was promoted to major general in 1906 and on March 27, 1908 he reached the mandatory retirement age of 64. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his military service on March 21, 1935. He died on October 20, 1935 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.