Charles Adelle Lewis Totten (February 3, 1851 – April 12, 1908) was an American military officer, a professor of military tactics, a prolific writer, and an influential early advocate of British Israelism.
Charles Totten was born in New London, Connecticut into a military family. His father, James Totten was a 1st lieutenant in the Army and would become a Brigadier-General in the Missouri Militia during the American Civil War. He was the grandfather of Lieutenant General William P. Ennis who served during World War II and the Korean War. He was not directly related to Brevet Major General Joseph Gilbert Totten, who was Chief of the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1838 to 1864.
Totten's brother, John Reynolds Totten, graduated from West Point in 1878, was promoted to first lieutenant in 1886 and resigned from the Army on April 1, 1891. After leaving the Army, he pursued his interests in genealogy and hereditary societies.
Totten was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point on September 1, 1869. A year later, his father was dismissed from the Army for misconduct.
Totten graduated from West Point (where he had been an honor student) in June 1873. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Artillery Regiment. He was promoted to first lieutenant the next year. He would not be promoted again, however, due to slow promotions in the post-Civil War Army.
He taught military science and tactics at Massachusetts Agricultural College, (now known as the University of Massachusetts Amherst) from 1875 to 1878. In this assignment he introduced fencing as a collegiate sport.