Christopher Columbus Beavens was born on January 6, 1842, in Pennsylvania. By 1860, he was working as a wheelwright in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on June 7, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 7^th Louisiana Infantry. The regiment took part in the First Battle of Manassas, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign.

 

He was promoted to corporal in October 1861, but he was reduced to the ranks in July 1863. Union forces captured him in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 11, 1864, and imprisoned him at Point Lookout in Maryland. He was exchanged on February 10, 1865. He surrendered as part of General Richard Taylor’s command in May 1865.

 

He settled in Houston, Texas, after the war and operated a bookstore. He married Louisa A. Risley on March 15, 1870, and they had at least five children: Risley, born around 1871; Massie, born around 1872; Conway, born around 1874; Emily, born around 1877; and Phillip, born around 1880. He died in Houston on July 2, 1903.

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