Career
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Scannell enlisted in the Marine Corps from that city on February 1, 1898, and served as a private. In Beijing (then known to Americans as Peking), China, from July 21 to August 17, 1900, he helped erect barricades despite heavy hostile fire. Scannell was discharged from the Marine Corps on March 6, 1903, after five years of service.
He died two decades later, at age 48, and was buried at Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine.
The only Medal of Honor recipient in the cemetery, Scannell"s grave is distinguished by a special marker with gold engraving. In 1909 the San Francisco Fire Department commissioned two new fireboats, one of which was named after Scannell.
