CHARLES S. MCCLAIN, ENS, USN
Charles McClain '78
Charles Sumner McClain was admitted to the Naval Academy from Greencastle, Indiana on November 2, 1874 at age 17 years 2 months.
Prior to the publication of the Lucky Bag in 1894, most portraits of officers and midshipmen of the Naval Academy were captured in yearly photo albums. The album for 1878 is available in the collections of the Naval Academy's Digital Collections.
Special thank you to historian Kathy Franz for identifying this resource and then extracting several dozen photographs for this site.
Prior to the publication of the Lucky Bag in 1894, most portraits of officers and midshipmen of the Naval Academy were captured in yearly photo albums. The album for 1878 is available in the collections of the Naval Academy's Digital Collections.
Special thank you to historian Kathy Franz for identifying this resource and then extracting several dozen photographs for this site.
Loss
From The Catalogue and History of Sigma Chi, 1855-1890:
Graduate of U. S. Naval Acad., 1878. “Star Man” of Class. Instructor in U. S. Naval Acad, in ordnance and artillery exercise; on duty at Smithsonian Inst. One of the volunteers to the Greeley relief expedition, and assigned to the “Alert.” In 1885, ordered to the Navy Yard at Pensacola, Fla., on account of ill health. Died, Jan. 11, 1887, in Brooklyn, L. I. Brother of John C. and L. Dow McLain.
Charles had been admitted to the Naval Hospital Pensacola, Florida, on March 2, 1886. He was transferred to the Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C. in July; "shortly afterward" he was granted sick leave to return to his home in Brooklyn, New York.
Other Information
He is pictured as part of the Greely Relief Expedition.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
He was married to Hester Josephine Brooks on 9/24/1884. They had a son Charles B. born 6/14/1886. She did receive a widow's pension until she remarried in 1902. He was ill often - and the Greely Expedition was blamed. The news article states birth in 1858, but one said Ohio, the other Indiana. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.
Charles’ widow Hester and their son Charles lived with her sister Florence and other female relatives in Brooklyn in 1900. Hester married F. Quentin Jordan in 1902. She died in 1952 and was buried in Acacia Park cemetery, Norwood Park, Illinois.
Obituary
From records of the US Naval Academy Graduates’ Association:
CHARLES SUMNER McCLAIN, Graduate No. 1327.
1874, November 3, appointed Cadet Midshipman at the Naval Academy from Indiana, 1878, June 15, detached from Naval Academy and wait orders. October 1, to the Pensacola, Pacific Station; was transferred to the Lackawanna. 1880, February 27, to the receiving ship at Mare Island. April 22, detached and wait orders. May 20, to examination for final graduation. June 4 promoted to Midshipman and detached from Naval Academy and wait orders. September 30, to the Yantic, North Atlantic Station. 1882, April 14, detached and to the Coast Survey steamer Bache. June 27, to examination for promotion. July 3, commissioned an Ensign from February 4, 1882. 1883, November 10, detached from the Bache and to the Smithsonian Institution. 1884, April 22, detached and to the Alert, Greeley Relief Expedition, August 25, detached and wait orders. September 30, to the Naval Academy. 1885, May 14, detached and to the practice ship Constellation. September, detached and to the Naval Academy. 1886, February 1, detached and to the Navy Yard, Pensacola. Died at Brooklyn, N. Y., on January 11, 1887.
Sea service, 5 years, 8 months; shore duty, 5 years, 8 months; unemployed, 10 months; in service, 12 years, 2 months.
McClain was the son of Mr. William A. McClain, of Greencastle, Indiana, and was born in 1857 in Marion County of that State.
He labored his first year at the Naval Academy under the serious disadvantage of having entered several weeks later than his classmates. In spite of this drawback he passed that year well above the middle of his class, and showed the traits of ability and earnest purpose that enabled him to graduate fourth in a class of thirty-six, and that marked all his subsequent service.
In 1884, while attached to the Greeley relief steamer Alert, the exposure incident to Arctic service laid the germs of the disease that finally resulted fatally.
Soon after his return from the north, in September, 1884, he was married to Miss H. Josephine Brooks, of Brooklyn, New York, and immediately entered upon duty as an Instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery at the Naval Academy. During the fall of 1885 his health rapidly declined, and he was transferred to the Pensacola Navy Yard at his own request, in hope of relief from its more genial climate. He continued to fail, however, and died January 11, 1887, at Brooklyn, whither he had gone the preceding June. His widow and one son survive him.
Of high character and purpose, and of marked ability, McClain won the respect and love of all who knew them. H.S. Knapp
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Cadet Midshipman, 3 November, 1874. Graduated 4 June, 1880. Ensign, 4 February, 1882. Died 11 January, 1887.
Memorial Hall Error
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