Charles Vreeland was born March 10, 1852 and enlisted in the Navy as a naval apprentice in early 1866.  After a short period on the Sabine, he was given a presidential appointment to enter the Naval Academy in July 1866, graduating in June of 1870.  He did several cruises onboard screw sloops before be appointed to Lieutenant in 1880.  From 1871 to 1873 he was cruising on the  Congress; from 1873 to 1878 he was attached to the North Atlantic and Asiatic Stations; and from 1878 until 1881 he was on the Ticonderoga.  He was next assigned to the U.S. Naval Observatory working in the office of the Nautical Almanac.   In March 1884 he was assigned to the USS Hartford, and then to the Bureau of Navigation.  In October 1893 he was assigned as naval attaché, first in Rome, then Vienna, and finally Berlin.

After returning home in 1896, as a Lieutenant, he was assigned to the battleship Massachusetts until mid 1897 when he was transferred to the gunboat Helena where he served through the Spanish-American War on blockade duty off the port of Manzanillo until July of 1898.  He was next assigned as Executive Officer on the cruiser Dolphin and after a few months transferred to the Olympia, then the Concord.  He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and served on Asiatic Squadron returning to the States in 1900 to be on the Board of Inspectors.  In August of 1901 he was promoted to full Commander assuming Command of the new monitor Arkansas.  In 1903 he served on a series of special assignments in the Department of the Navy being promoted to Captain in April of 1906.  His first assignment as a Captain was to commission the new Connecticut-class battleship, Kansas, then commanding the ship for the next two years including the period of the world tour.  Upon return to Hampton Roads, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and Command of 4th Division, Atlantic Fleet.  After several shore assignments he retired in March of 1914 and passed away in September 1916.