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<em>Jacob Fordney Kreps</em> was born at West Newton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on October 22, 1860, the son of John Wood and Elizabeth Smith Kreps. His father, a Captain in the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry, and four uncles, veterans of the Civil War, turned him from his original leaning towards medicine to the Army, and he entered West Point in 1879, graduating in 1883. Of his days at the Academy a classmate writes:— “A medium sized Pennsylvanian, genial, cheerful, affable, Jake was liked by his classmates. Without quirks or erratic angles, he never bothered the Superintendent or clashed with the Commandant, hut attended to his job diligently and collected no more than a proper number of demerits. As to his scholastic standing, he belonged to that large section of the class aptly described as without ambition and devoid of fear ...”</p>
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Commissioned in the Twenty-second Infantry, he remained assigned to that regiment throughout his service, leaving it for only three short tours of detached duty.</p>
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Reporting at his first station at Fort Lewis (near Durango) Colorado, he found the Twenty-second on the Indian frontier, engaged in the many field duties connected with keeping Apaches, Navajos, and Utes reasonably peaceful. Here, regardless of the summer-time Indian activities, the winters were quiet—the troops were snowed in for weeks at a time, and one winter there was no mail for two months. It was of this monotonous period of service that a fellow officer writes of Kreps’ characteristics, “Everyone was much pleased to have Kreps as a member of the regiment. He was of a happy disposition, played a bit on the piano and was full of songs and a real addition to the life of the garrison. It was rather a wild joint, for there were several of the Civil War officers, who were great poker players and spent both days and nights with us. However, I think that Kreps was not in the game.”</p>
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In 1887 he was assigned as Professor, Military Science and Tactics, at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, remaining there until 1890, when he rejoined his regiment, then on the Indian frontier at Fort Totten, North Dakota. Until 1896 he served variously at Forts Totten, Keogh, Buford, and Pembina, during this period the regiment taking part in suppressing the Pine Ridge Agency outbreak, in the Coeur d’Alene mining trouble, and in rounding up a contingent of “Coxey’s Army”. For part of this time Kreps was acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Commissary. In 1895 he was appointed Regimental Quartermaster. There is no detailed record available of his activities during these six years.</p>
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In 1896 the regiment was ordered to Fort Crook, Nebraska, where Kreps performed the usual duties of a Regimental Quartermaster, spending his spare time studying German and, in collaboration with an old friend, in studying military matters and preparing papers for the “Lyceum.”</p>
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In April, 1898, he moved with his regiment to Mobile and then to Tampa, and in June sailed for Cuba on the “Orizaba,” landing at Daquiri on June 22d. He took part in the engagements at Ey Caney and San Juan, and in the siege and surrender of Santiago, and sailed with the regiment for Montauk Point, August 13th. He returned with the regiment from Montauk to Fort Crook and in January, 1899, sailed with it to the Philippines.</p>
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During the Philippine Insurrection he took part in the engagements at Guadaloupe Ridge, Tayug, Caloocan, Malabon, Melinto, Pasay, Novaliches, Ballnag, Minalungen, Tubigan, Balucan Mountains, and near Santa Cruz. He was Provisional Governor of Neuva Ecija Province from June, 1901, until the regiment left for home. During his spare time, such as there was, he studied Tagalog and learned to speak it fairly well. Of his duty as Provisional Governor a friend writes, “he was as well fitted to undertake the work as anyone in the Army out there.” Another friend writes, “he was regarded as one of the best company and battalion commanders we had. He was a good field soldier.”</p>
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In January, 1902, Kreps accompanied the regiment from the Philippines to Fort Crook, Nebraska, where he remained until 1903, when he was detailed as recruiting officer, first at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later at Fort Slocum, New York, till November, 1905. In January, 1906, he rejoined the regiment at Fort McDowell, California, just returned from another tour in the islands, and remained there with it as Regimental Commissary and Battalion Commander until its departure for Alaska in June, 1908, participating during that period in relief work pertaining to the San Francisco earthquake (his battalion was the first to reach the business section of the city on the morning of the quake) and in the expedition to Goldfield, Nevada, (Winter 1907-8) in connection with labor trouble at the mining camps.</p>
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In Alaska he commanded Fort Davis, at Nome, for two years, returning in 1910 to attend the Army Service School at Fort Leavenworth. In the summer of 1911 he was taken ill and after a short period of observation at Letterman Hospital was sent to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, where he remained until 1914, when he was retired.</p>
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During the World War he was recalled to duty as Assistant Department Inspector at San Francisco and after the war was Director, Red Cross, at Palo Alto, 1919-20. In 1922 he was engaged for a time with the Forestry Service at Quincy, Calfornia.</p>
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After retirement he built a home at Carmel, but spent a great deal of his time at his son’s ranch in Plumas County, California.</p>
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He died, after a long illness, at Pacific Grove on June 10, 1939.</p>
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To his friends in the service Jakey Kreps leaves a memory of a life well spent for his country and his regiment; of much work and many hardships lived through cheerfully and without complaint; and of kindly, thoughtful consideration for those around him, especially for younger men. All knew his sterling worth and valued him as a real soldier and a dependable friend.</p>
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Colonel Kreps married Miss Helen Amelia Thompson of Meadvllle, Pennsylvania, on January 21, 1891. To them were born three children. He is survived by his widow, who resides at Carmel, California, by a daughter, Mrs. W. H. Loerpabel, of Tucson, Arizona, and a son, John Kreps, of Sloat, California.</p>
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<em>—M. H. T.</em></p>
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