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Adding local short description: "First game warden in Yellowstone National Park (1839–1924)", overriding Wikidata description "first national park ranger, Yellowstone National Park" (Shortdesc helper) |
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Yount served two terms in the [[Union Army]] during the American Civil War. He first enlisted for a six-month term in November 1861. He was wounded and taken prisoner by the [[Confederate States Army]] in an opening skirmish of the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] in [[Arkansas]] in March 1862, and held as a [[prisoner of war]] for nearly a month until released in a [[prisoner exchange]]. He re-enlisted in August 1862 and served until the end of the war. He was promoted three times and was a [[company quartermaster sergeant]] when he was discharged in July 1865.
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== Family background and early years ==
Harry Yount's paternal ancestors, Hans George Jundt and Anna Marie Jundt, arrived in Philadelphia in 1731, immigrants from [[Alsace-Lorraine]]. Their
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[[File:Battle of Pea Ridge.png|thumb|left|alt=Painting of the Battle of Pea Ridge|The 1862 [[Battle of Pea Ridge]], where Yount was taken prisoner in a skirmish just before the battle began]]
Yount enlisted in the Union Army for a six-month term on November 9, 1861, and served in Company F of Phelps' Regiment of the Missouri Infantry. [[John
Yount re-enlisted in [[Lebanon, Missouri]], on August 9, 1862, and served as a private in Company H of the [[8th Regiment Missouri Volunteer Cavalry]], a unit involved in 11 combat engagements during his service. On April 14, 1863, he was promoted to corporal and then to sergeant on December 9, 1863; he became [[company quartermaster sergeant]] on June 13, 1864. He was discharged in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]], on July 20, 1865, after the war had ended.<ref name=Supernaugh />
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During Hayden's expedition of 1877, Yount engaged in mountaineering with Ingersoll and the cartographer [[A. D. Wilson]] in the [[Wind River Range]]. They were the first to ascend the south slopes of [[Wind River Peak]], and, with Wilson, Yount was the first to ascend West Atlantic Peak.<ref>{{cite book
}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Hayden's expedition of 1878 conducted surveys in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas in 1878. That expedition included the British mountaineer [[James Eccles]] and Eccles's favorite Swiss mountain guide, Michel Payot of [[Chamonix]]. Eccles wanted to attempt an ascent of the [[Grand Teton]], then unclimbed. This was the third attempt to climb the Grand Teton by members of Hayden's expeditions. Yount served as the guide in a four-man party that included Eccles, Payot and Wilson. Eccles and Payot were held up by the disappearance of two [[mule]]s carrying their gear, and so were unable to accompany Wilson and Yount on to the higher parts of the mountain. During the climb, Yount slipped on the ice and fell close to a deep chasm in the glacier, where water was streaming down from the cliff above. The hold of his buckskin pants on the ice reportedly prevented him from being carried down into the crevice.<ref name=Progressive /> Wilson was quoted as saying that Yount was clinging to the rock like "a starfish hanging to a breakwater," and that he himself lowered a rope to assist Yount.<ref>{{cite book
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== Recognition as first National Park ranger ==
Although Yount's official job title was "gamekeeper" rather than "[[National Park Service Ranger|park ranger]]", and although he only worked in Yellowstone National Park for 14 months, his two annual reports had a lasting impact on the administration of the national parks in the United States. He is "securely positioned in the legend and culture" of the National Park Service, and is considered a figure of "historic proportion".<ref name=Supernaugh /> In ''Oh, Ranger!'', a book published in 1928, Horace Albright, who later became the second director of the National Park Service, wrote that "Harry Yount pointed out in a report that it was impossible for one man to patrol the park. He urged the formation of a ranger force. So Harry Yount is credited with being the father of the ranger service, as well as the first
== Prospecting and later years ==
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[[Category:American hunters]]
[[Category:American prospectors]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Explorers of the United States]]
[[Category:Mountain men]]
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