Daniel Fossett (Fassett) was born in 1824 in Charlottesville, Virginia, to Joseph and Edith Fossett, the blacksmith and chief cook, respectively, at Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Joseph and Edith had ten children and moved with their partially reconstructed family to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1838. Daniel Fossett worked in his father’s blacksmith shop until his father’s death in 1858.

Fossett enlisted in the Union army as a free man with the rank of private at the age of 40 on February 1, 1864, in Hamilton County, Ohio. He mustered in shortly after on February 8, 1864, at Camp Delaware, Ohio. He served in Company B of the 27th USCT Infantry Regiment. Fossett’s service record describes him as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with black eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. Fossett was assigned to detached duty at division headquarters for part of August and September 1864. Fossett’s regiment, the 27th USCT, was present for the siege of Petersburg and Richmond throughout 1864 as well as the Petersburg mine explosion on July 30, 1864. Additionally, the 27th USCT was involved in numerous assaults and captures, such as the capture of Wilmington, North Carolina on February 22, 1865, and the surrender of Confederate General Joseph Johnston on April 26, 1865. Fossett mustered out on September 21, 1865, in Smithville, North Carolina.

According to local historian Cinder Stanton, Fossett had a difficult life following his service. Fossett returned to Cincinnati after the war. In January 1866, Fossett was tried in a case of grand larceny on the allegation that he stole approximately $50 of property from a man named Jones. On October 9, 1872, while walking up the stairs to the room of a Victoria Smith, she and Fossett fell down from the landing to the ground after a brief altercation over a $2 bill. Fossett died from the head injuries he sustained in the fall. Victoria survived but was permanently injured. According to the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Fossett left behind an unnamed wife and child.