JOSEPH C. BRECKINRIDGE, ENS, USN

Joseph Breckinridge '95

Date of birth: March 6, 1872

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

Breckinridge

Lexington, Kentucky

Substitute N. A. Football Team. Class Football Team, 1892, 1893, 1894. Treasurer N. A. A. A., 1893-4. Class Supper Committee. June Ball Committee. Toast Class Supper.

Breckinridge

Lexington, Kentucky

Substitute N. A. Football Team. Class Football Team, 1892, 1893, 1894. Treasurer N. A. A. A., 1893-4. Class Supper Committee. June Ball Committee. Toast Class Supper.

Photographs

Photo scanned and provided by Jennifer Bryan, Ph.D., Head of Special Collections & Archives/Archivist at the Naval Academy's Nimitz Library
From the memorial plaque in Memorial Hall.
From The Daily Leader on February 19, 1898

Loss

Joseph was lost on February 11, 1898 when he drowned after falling overboard from the gunboat Cushing (Torpedo Boat #1) near Cuba.

Other Information

From Find A Grave:

Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (6 March 1872 – 11 February 1898) was an officer in the United States Navy in the Spanish-American War. He was the son of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, Sr., a Major General in the United States Army, and a member of the prominent Breckinridge family.
Breckinridge was born in Fort Monroe, Virginia and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1895. He served on the battleship Texas, where on several occasions he displayed remarkable coolness and ability in times of peril.
While serving on the USS Cushing (TB-1), Ensign Breckinridge was washed overboard and drowned in Cuban waters. Two sailors who attempted to rescue him, Ship's Cook First Class Daniel Atkins and Gunner's Mate Third Class John Everetts, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the incident.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Joseph, who was six feet tall, was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1886 by his uncle Col. William C. P. Breckinridge, a member of Congress. Joseph was in a “hazing affair” and had trouble with the academy officials, but President Cleveland reappointed him.
The Lexington Herald of February 19, 1898, printed the naval orders from Commodore F. M. Bunce:
“The remains of the late Ensign Joseph C. Breckinridge, U. S. N., are expected to arrive at this navy yard . . . en route to Lexington, Ky., and will be placed in the navy yard chapel on the cob dock from the hour of their arrival until 3 o'clock p.m. of the same day..
“The following ceremonies will be observed:
“When the Narkeeta is sighted the ensigns of the Vermont and all ensigns of the navy yard will be half-masted until the remains enter the chapel.
“At the hour of department all available officers of the navy yard are invited to be present to escort the remains to the Narkeeta.
“A company of marines will be detailed from the barracks to parade abreast of the Narkeeta to render the usual honors as the remains are embarked, except that no volleys will be fired.
“The flags of the Vermont and all flags of the navy yard will be again half-masted as the Narkeeta leaves the station, and so continue until she is out of sight.
“Uniform for officers – service dress and overcoats. Marines – overcoats and helmets.”
Joseph's remains were brought to the New York on the Seneca. The tug boat Narkeeta then bore the remains to the Brooklyn navy yard. One of the escorts was John Fore Hines (Class of 1892.) He married Joseph's sister Mary in October 1898.

He is buried in Kentucky.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.