Charles S. Mitchell was born on February 25, 1840, in Franklin County, Virginia, to James and Leticia Mitchell. His father was a minister who owned $20,000 of real estate and $7,000 of personal property by 1860. The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1840s and then to Saline County, Missouri, in the 1850s. He attended Arcadia College and Central College (present-day Central Methodist University). By 1860, he was studying law in St. Louis.

 

He sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War, and he joined the Missouri State Guards in 1861. The following year, he helped organize the 8^th Missouri Infantry. He received a commission as colonel of the 8^th Missouri, and the regiment took part in the Battle of Prairie Grove and the Battle of Pleasant Hill. He spent the last year of the war in Arkansas and Louisiana. The regiment surrendered on June 2, 1865, and Mitchell received a parole five days later.

 

He married Julia Rector on April 25, 1865, and they had at least four children: Charles, born around 1872; Lillian, born around 1873; William, born around 1875; and Julia, born around 1876. They moved to Dallas, Texas, and he operated a hardware business there. His wife died around 1880. By 1900, he was living with his son William in Justice, Texas. By 1910, he was living in Saginaw, Texas. He died near Saginaw on June 12, 1910.

 

Image: Charles S. Mitchell (Colonel Charles S. Mitchell, 8^th Missouri Infantry Regiment in uniform, United States, None [Place not identified: publisher not identified, between 1863 and 1865], Photograph, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021631014)

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