Charles Morfoot was born on August 19, 1823, in Columbiana County, Ohio, to John Morfoot. He moved to Bucyrus, Ohio, around 1840, and he married Elizabeth Boyer on June 2, 1844. They had at least five children: John, born around 1846; Eliza, born around 1848; George, born around 1852; Cora, born around 1857; and Ida, born around 1859. Morfoot worked as a bricklayer in Bucyrus, and by 1860, he owned $500 of real estate.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 9, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 101st Ohio Infantry on August 30. The regiment took part in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Chickamauga, the siege of Chattanooga, the Atlanta campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. He was promoted to corporal in 1862, then to sergeant on August 1, 1863, and finally to 1st lieutenant on November 3, 1864.
As an Ohio writer later noted, Morfoot was “a patriot, serving his country faithfully…and winning distinction on more than one bloody battlefield, rising by his own bravery and soldierly qualities.” In May 1863, he denounced antiwar northerners, declaring, they are our enemies and I want them out of the way and off the Earth they are the men that are keep up the war by encourageing the south and discourageing the soldiers." In the gubernatorial election of 1863, he supported Union Party candidate John Brough, declaring, "hurra for Brough for Governer Down with traitors up with the stars and we will shout the Battle cry of Freedom." He mustered out on June 12, 1865.
Morfoot returned to Bucyrus after the war and resumed his work as a bricklayer. By 1870, he owned $600 of real estate and $100 of personal property. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic and reportedly shared a “warm fraternal feeling for old soldiers.” One writer declared him a “model husband and father” who was “highly esteemed by all.” He applied for a federal pension in August 1889 and eventually secured one. He retired from work in November 1895, when he suffered a “stroke of paralysis.” Although doctors feared for his life, he eventually recovered. He died in Bucyrus on December 12, 1899.