Charles Anderson was born on January 16, 1836, in Kalmar, Sweden. He immigrated to America around 1855 and lived in New York for the next three years. He moved to New Milford, Illinois, around 1836 and earned a living as a farmer. He enlisted in the Union army on August 11, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company F of the 74^th Illinois Infantry on September 4. According to his service records, he was 6 feet tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. His regiment took part in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, the Chattanooga campaign, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the Battle of Franklin, and the Battle of Nashville. He was eventually promoted to sergeant, and he mustered out in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 10, 1865.

 

Anderson returned to Illinois after the war, and he married Mary Adeline Wise on May 30, 1866. They had three children: George, born around 1867; Charles, born around 1873; and Ida, born around 1879. They eventually settled in Dubuque, Iowa, and Anderson worked as a tanner and carpenter. He developed a “cancer of the face” around 1913, and he died in Dubuque on March 29, 1914.

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