Charles J . Train Rear Admiral Charles Jackson Train ( 14 May 1845 – 4 August 1906 ) was an officer in the United States Navy . He served in the Spanish - American War and later as the second Commander - in - Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet . Naval career . Train was born in Framingham , Massachusetts , on 14 May 1845 , and was appointed to the United States Naval Academy on 27 November 1861 , graduating in November 1864 . From 1866 to 1867 he served aboard the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron , the screw frigate , being promoted to ensign on 1 November 1866 and to master on 1 December 1866 while aboard " Colorado " . During 1868 he served aboard the screw sloop - of - war USS " Frolic " in the European Squadron , and was promoted to lieutenant on 12 March 1868 while aboard " Frolic " . He was aboard the screw frigate while she made midshipman training cruises to ports in Europe and the Mediterranean in 1869 and 1870 , and was promoted to lieutenant commander on 30 June 1869 . Train returned to the U . S . Naval Academy to serve as an instructor from 1871 to 1872 . He was assigned to special duty in 1873 , and in 1874 and 1875 had another special duty assignment to study the December 1874 transit of Venus . From 1875 to 1876 he was aboard the sloop - of - war on the Pacific Station . He had several assignments in 1877 , beginning with duty at the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo , California , followed by a stint aboard the sloop - of - war on the Pacific Station , and then a return to the Naval Academy for a second tour as an instructor in navigation . Leaving the Naval Academy in 1881 , Train received a special duty assignment aboard the sidewheel frigate from 1881 to 1884 . He was assigned to the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting from 1884 to 1886 and was promoted to commander on 17 January 1886 . Train took command of a training ship , the sloop - of - war , from 1886 to 1888 , then was commanding officer of another training ship , the sloop - of - war , from 1888 to 1889 . After service as a lighthouse inspector from 1889 to 1890 , he took command of the schooner - rigged gunboat on 20 July 1893 . Train reported for duty to the Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island , in June 1894 , then in October 1894 became a naval member of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta , Georgia . In June 1896 he became a lighthouse inspector in the Fourth District , serving in that capacity until 1898 . On the eve of the Spanish - American War , Train was ordered to the auxiliary cruiser , and became her first commanding officer when she was commissioned on 8 April 1898 . Train then took command of the battleship on 19 April 1898 , commanding her during the war . She participated in the blockade of Santiago de Cuba but missed the Battle of Santiago de Cuba because she was away coaling . Promoted to captain on 22 November 1898 , Train became a member of the Board of Inspection and Survey on 14 May 1901 and served as its president from January 1903 to February 1904 . Promoted to rear admiral , Train became the commander - in - chief of the U . S . Asiatic Fleet on 30 March 1905 . : During his tour , he was involved in various ways with the last weeks of the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 - 1905 , and after the decisive Japanese defeat of the Imperial Russian Navy in the Battle of Tsushima Strait in May 1905 units of the Asiatic Fleet escorted three fleeing Russian cruiser s into Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands , where he ensured that their crews were well taken care of during a lengthy stay until they were able to return to Russia . In November 1905 , Train was at the center of a diplomatic dispute while with a group of American officers on a pheasant - hunting expedition near Nanking , China , when he accidentally shot a Chinese woman with birdshot , inflicting minor injuries on her . A mob of hundreds of Chinese villagers formed around Trains party and attacked it , pushing Train into the mud , seizing the officers guns , and taking Trains son , Navy Lieutenant Charles R . Train , hostage . When 40 United States Marines landed to rescue the officers , the villagers attcked them with pitchfork s and the Marines fired two shots . Local Chinese officials refused to return the officers guns , but Train and his companions were able to extricate themselves without further injury to anyone . The governor of Nanking later apologized for the mobs actions returned the American officers guns , and punished the ringleaders of the mob . Personal life . Train was married to the former Grace Tomlinson ( 1850 - 1942 ) . Death . Train planned to retire from the Navy on 14 May 1907 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 62 , but , before he could , he died of uremia in Yantai ( known to Westerners at the time as " Chefoo " ) , China , on 4 August 1906 while in command of the Asiatic Fleet . After a memorial ceremony which the Japan ese admiral Heihachiro Togo and other dignitaries attended at Yokohama , Japan , aboard Trains flagship , the battleship , the steamer " Empress of China " carried his body out of the harbor under escort . His body was transported directly to Washington , D . C . Train is buried with his wife at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery .