Charles Burnett

Charles Burnett

Charles Burnett, 1877-1939

• Father: J. S. Burnett

• Charles Burnett was born on 28 October 1877 in Knox County, Tennessee.
• He married Frances Hawks Cameron, daughter of Francis Hawks Cameron and Eugenia LeGrand Weaver, on 14 March 1905 in Fort Ethan Allen, Chittenden County, Vermont.
• The following appeared on 16 March 1905 in The Times-Dispatch: (Fort Ethan Allen, Vt., March 15) The wedding of Miss Frances Hawks Cameron, a resident of Richmond, Va., to Lieutenant Charles Burnett, Fifteenth United States cavalry, occurred at this garrison last evening at 8 o'clock, and was the social event of the season.
       Miss Cameron is the daughter of the late General Francis Hawks and Mrs. Cameron, of North Carolina and Virginia. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Herbert A. Shipman, chaplain at the West Point Military Academy, assisted by Chaplain W. W. Brander, Fifteenth cavalry, a resident of Richmond, Va. The wedding took place in the new gymnasium, which was tastefully decorated with flags, and a very beautiful chancel was formed by palms and white Easter lilies in a semi-circle. The altar was artistically lighted with many candelabra, and held two large vases of lilies, and the chancel rail was covered entirely with the same flowers, interwoven with Southern smilax. Just above the altar were draped the national standard and the regimental colors of the Fifteenth cavalry. During the arrival of the guests the Fifteenth cavalry band dispersed soft music from some hidden bower in the hall above. Trumpets announced the coming of the bridal party, which entered to the strains of Lohengrin's wedding march. The ushers, brother officers of the groom, Lieutenants Clifton Norton, Victor Foster, Wiley P. Mangun, Milton G. Holliday, Arthur J. Lynch and Scott Baker, in full dress uniform, led the way, followed by two pretty little flower girls, Misses Floy Rodman Barnhardt and Dorothy Walker, who carried basket trays of rosebuds. They were followed by the bridesmaids, Misses Kathrine and Isabel Gresham, Grace Russell and Edith Hoyle, carrying immense bouquets of yellow daffodils--the cavalry color. They were gowned in dainty white lace-trimmed organdies. Miss Jean Cameron, the maid of honor, wearing a dress of silk mull and carrying a large bunch of spring violets, immediately preceded the bride, who entered on the arm of her brother, Lieutenant Francis Cameron, Fifteenth United States cavalry, and was met at the altar by the groom and his best man, Lieutenant Samuel W. Robertson, Fifteenth United States cavalry, both in full dress uniform. Lieutenant Burnett wore the handsome gold sabre presented to him in the Philippines by the members of Troop C, Fifteenth cavalry, with whom he served.
       The ceremony was the beautiful ritual of the Episcopal Church, and at its conclusion the bridal party left the chancel to the happy strains of Mendelssohn's wedding march. The company then repaired to the large hall above, where supper was served, and the bride followed the time-honored custom in the army of cutting the wedding cake with the groom's sabre, and as the event waned many toasts were drunk to the happiness of the newly-wedded couple.
       The Bride's dress was very beautiful, being of a lustrous wihit silk--the gift of her brother Duncan Haywood Cameron, of Canton, China, and she wore a veil which enveloped her entire figure and fell in graceful folds to the end of her train. Her bouquet was lilies of the valley, and a spray of orange blossoms was caught in the veil on her hair.
       Both Lieutenant and Mrs. Burnett are very popular in the Fifteenth cavalry, and they will be granted every concession so that no change can be made to take them from the garrison. They were the recipients of many handsome gifts. The wedding trip has been postponed a few weeks, owing to the recent illness of the bride. In April they will visit New York and West Point, where the Lieutenant graduated in the class of 1901.
• He applied for a passport on 20 April 1923. The emergency application for the purpose of traveling in Japan and China on official business was made at the American Embassy at Tokyo where Charles Burnett was serving as US Military Attache. Their legal domicile was in Illinois, permanent residence Carlinville.
• Charles Burnett and Frances Hawks Cameron arrived in the Port of New York on 5 May 1930, aboard the SS America, having departed Southampton on 24 April.
• Charles Burnett died on 27 November 1939 at age 62 in Washington, District of Columbia, at Walter Reed Hospital.
• His wife Frances Hawks Cameron became a widow at his death.
• He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
• The following appeared on 29 November 1939 in The Oregonian: (Washington, Nov. 28) Colonel Charles Burnett, former chief of the war department's bureau of insular affairs with the rank of brigadier-general, died Monday night at Walter Reed hospital. He had been ill for more than two months.
• The following appeared on 2 December 1939 in The Times-Picayune: (Washington, Dec. 1) Military attaches of Germany and Japan and high ranking officers of the army were honorary pallbearers at funeral services today for Brigadier-General Charles Burnett, former chief of the war department's bureau of insular affairs.
       The services were conducted by the Right Reverend John Thomas Dallas of New Hampshire. Burial was in Arlington National cemetery. Burnett died here Monday night at the age of 62. He was born in Concord, Tenn.
• The following appeared on 11 October 1957 in The Alexandria Town Talk: Mrs. Frances Cameron Burnett, 73, died at 8 p.m. Thursday in an Alexandria hospital.
       Remains will be shipped from John Kramer and Son Funeral Home to the Arlington National cemetery in Virginia today for services and interment.
       She is survived by two sisters, Mrs. LaGrande Paine and Mrs. Natenie Hanlon, both of Pineville. She was the wife of the late Brigadier General Charles Burnett.

• Last Edited: 6 Aug 2016