Home | About | Pre WWI | WWI | WWII | Korea | Vietnam | Post Vietnam | Non Wartime | Wounded | Decorated | Contact Us | Search

Charles Hauck

 

Date and Place of Birth: 1873 Brooklyn, NY
Date and Place of Death:    February 15, 1898 Havana Harbor, Cuba
Baseball Experience: Amateur
Position: Outfield
Rank: Landsman
Military Unit: US Navy
Area Served: Caribbean

Charles Hauck, son of Wendel and Katherine Hauck, was from Brooklyn, New York. He enlisted in the Navy on August 13, 1895 and served as a Landsman aboard the USS Vermont. A month later he joined the crew of the USS Maine (ACR-1), the United States Navy's second commissioned battleship.

Hauck was the centerfielder of the ships' baseball team, and in Florida in December 1897, the team defeated a team from the cruiser USS Marblehead, 18-3, to earn the title Navy baseball champions. Their next game was scheduled with an all-star squad in Havana, Cuba, and the Maine arrived in Havana Harbor in January.

On February 15, 1898, Marine Corps Fifer C.H. Newton, the ship’s bugler and the ball team’s third baseman, blew taps as the Maine bobbed listlessly in Havana Harbor. Shortly afterwards, the Maine blew up, killing 261 of the crew, including Charles Hauck and all but the baseball team’s right fielder, John Bloomer.

Two months after the loss of the USS Maine, on April 25, 1898, saw the start of the Spanish-American War, during which the rallying cry, “Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!” was frequently heard.

Date Added February 25, 2013 Updated August 29, 2013

Can you add more information to this biography and help make it the best online resourse for this player? Contact us by email

Read Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice Through The Years - an online year-by-year account of military related deaths of ballplayers

Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is associated with Baseball Almanac

Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is proud to be sponsored by

Big League Chew