Charles was the first in the family to go to the Academy having been admitted on 1 July 1852 at age 19 years, 3 months. He was a school teacher in Gray, Maine before entering - instructing in mathematics and English grammar. He struggled for 2 to 3 years to gain admittance at a time when appointments to the Academy were quite political. One of his letters accuses a local representative of failing to forward his recommendations because the unscrupulous congressman wanted his own son to get the appointment. In another letter written directly to President James K. Polk he affirmed his patriotism and support for the recent War with Mexico. Ultimately an appeal to then Sec of War Charles M. Conrad with a request that he look into the irregularities surrounding his withheld application materials met with success and he was admitted to the class of 1856. At the end of his plebe year he was taken sick "laboring under the effects of fever, of a typhoid character." By 21 June his symptoms had taken an "alarming" turn for the worst, suggesting "congestion of the brain." This prompted the Superintendent of the Academy Colonel Robert E. Lee to write to Charles' father Alpheus Frank of his son's guarded prognosis. He wrote again on the 29th of June to inform Alpheus of Charles' death on 28 June. He was buried in the Cadet cemetery and his brother Royal Thaxter Frank was admitted into the next year's class. Royal Thaxter Frank became an accomplished artilleryman and commander. He retired from the Army as a Brigadier General in 1899 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.
Charles was the first in the family to go to the Academy having been admitted on 1 July 1852 at age 19 years, 3 months. He was a school teacher in Gray, Maine before entering - instructing in mathematics and English grammar. He struggled for 2 to 3 years to gain admittance at a time when appointments to the Academy were quite political. One of his letters accuses a local representative of failing to forward his recommendations because the unscrupulous congressman wanted his own son to get the appointment. In another letter written directly to President James K. Polk he affirmed his patriotism and support for the recent War with Mexico. Ultimately an appeal to then Sec of War Charles M. Conrad with a request that he look into the irregularities surrounding his withheld application materials met with success and he was admitted to the class of 1856. At the end of his plebe year he was taken sick "laboring under the effects of fever, of a typhoid character." By 21 June his symptoms had taken an "alarming" turn for the worst, suggesting "congestion of the brain." This prompted the Superintendent of the Academy Colonel Robert E. Lee to write to Charles' father Alpheus Frank of his son's guarded prognosis. He wrote again on the 29th of June to inform Alpheus of Charles' death on 28 June. He was buried in the Cadet cemetery and his brother Royal Thaxter Frank was admitted into the next year's class. Royal Thaxter Frank became an accomplished artilleryman and commander. He retired from the Army as a Brigadier General in 1899 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.
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