JACOB G. MCWHORTER, 1LT, USMC
Jacob McWhorter '82
Jacob Gray McWhorter was admitted to the Naval Academy from Georgia on September 12, 1877 at age 16 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 1882 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 1882 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
Jacob "after a short illness died of peritonitis" on June 27, 1891, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was stationed at the Charlestown Navy Yard.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
In November 1882, Jacob was ordered from the Yantic to the Juniata.
In September 1890, he was detached from the navy-yard at Norfolk and ordered to the ones in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and then to Boston. In mid-September, he took a detachment of marines to New York City to join the cruiser Philadelphia.
On April 9, 1891, the Hon. Benjamin F. Tracy, secretary of the navy, visited the Boston navy-yard. On his arrival, Jacob’s command of a battalion of Marines in full dress uniform presented arms.
At the end of April, Jacob with a detachment of 35 Marines went to Lovell’s Island for target practice at long distance firing. They joined a company of men from the Wabash under drill officer Lieutenant Fred W. Coffin (Class of 1875.)
His mother Sarah, a schoolteacher, received the pension from 1893-1915. He had two sisters, Sarah and Anna. He is buried in Summerville Cemetery, Augusta, Georgia. Operation was for hemorrhoids, peritonitis set in. His father George was an attorney, and in one article they called him Major - he was in the Civil War but don't see him as a major. Probably just a term of respect.
From the Pittsburgh Dispatch on July 5, 1891:
First Lieutenant Jacob Grey McWhorter, United States Marine Corps, who died at the Marine Hospital, Chelsea, Mass., on June 27, was born in Augusta, Ga., June 17, 1861. He was graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis with high honors in 1882, and after a two years’ cruise in the United States steamer Lancaster with the European squadron he returned home and was transferred to the Marine Corps and ordered to the Mare Island Navy Yard, Cal, From there he went on a three years’ cruise in the United States steamer Adams. He was at the Sandwich Islands during the revolution there and at Samoa when Malietoa was deposed and Tamasese set up as King. He returned to San Francisco in 1889 and was stationed at Norfolk, Philadelphia, and finally Boston.
Jacob is buried in Georgia.
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Second Lieutenant, 1 July, 1884. First Lieutenant, 23 December, 1890. Died 27 June, 1891, at Boston, Mass.
Memorial Hall Error
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