Charles Augustus Loud was born around 1841 in Pittston, Maine, to Noah and Elizabeth Loud. His father earned a living as a carpenter. The family moved to Salem, Massachusetts, and he grew up and attended school there. By the late 1850s, he was working as a fisherman. He married Mary Luella Marsh on June 28, 1859. She apparently died soon afterward, and he married Harriet Dill on December 21, 1861.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on November 4, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company C of the 32^nd Massachusetts Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5 ¾ inches tall, with black hair and black eyes. He was discharged for disability on March 24, 1862. As a surgeon explained, he had been “unfit for duty [for] 70 days” over the past two months. He was suffering from an “old fracture of the leg near the ankle joint, which disables him from performing his duties.”

 

He rejoined the Union army on October 27, 1862, mustering in as a private in Company F of the 41^st Massachusetts Infantry. He fell ill in May 1863 and spent several weeks recovering. In September 1863, he was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant in Company G of the 88^th USCT Infantry. He developed chronic diarrhea in the winter of 1863-64 and went north to recover. In January 1864, a Rhode Island doctor declared him “totally unfit to travel.” Military officials initially declared him absent without leave. He rejoined the regiment in March 1864, and a board of inquiry ruled that he had a “satisfactory excuse.” He resigned in June 1864.

 

He moved to Alameda County, California, in the 1870s, and he earned a living as a barber. By 1880, he was living in Eastham, Massachusetts. He filed for divorce in 1881, accusing Harriet of committing adultery “with divers men.” He married Rhoda W. Tay on May 7, 1882. He applied for a federal pension in December 1893 and eventually received one. He eventually moved to San Diego, California, and he died there on October 1, 1913.

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