Third Commandant
7 March 1804 - 1 September 1818

Franklin Wharton was born in Philadelphia on 23 July 1767. He was commissioned a captain in the Marine Corps in August 1798. During the Quasi-War with France, he served as commander of the Marine detachment on board the frigate United States.

At age 36 and a Marine officer for only five years, he became Lieutenant Colonel Commandant on 6 March 1804. He was the first occupant of the Commandant's House, Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. During the British raid on Washington in 1814, most of the new capital's public buildings were burned, but the house and the Marine Barracks were spared.

Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Wharton died in office on 1 September 1818, while in New York City, and was buried in the churchyard of New York's Old Trinity Church.

By the iron rules of seniority which then applied, Wharton was succeeded by the controversial Anthony Gale, a native of Ireland. Gale's hot temper and dubious personal habits led to his court martial and dismissal from the service in 1820. No portrait or other likeness of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Gale is known to have survived.