Charles Henry Schreiber was born around 1839 in present-day Germany to Frederick and Johanna Schreiber. He eventually emigrated to America, and by the early 1860s, he was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He enlisted in the Union army on April 16, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company H of the 1^st Wisconsin Infantry later that day. He was discharged for disability on July 18, 1861.

 

He returned to the Union army a year later, mustering in as a private in Company I of the 6^th Michigan Cavalry on October 11, 1862. Confederate forces captured him on June 11, 1863, and he spent several months as a prisoner of war. He returned to his regiment on September 1, 1863. The regiment took part in the Battle of the Wilderness and the Appomattox campaign, and Schreiber mustered out on November 24, 1865.

 

He moved to Chicago, Illinois, after the war, and he earned a living as a butcher. He married Elizabeth Mahns on November 3, 1867, and they had at least three children: Lydia, born around 1870; Albert, born around 1872; and Louis, born around 1875. He apparently divided his time between Chicago and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and he worked as a bank clerk. He applied for a federal pension in December 1880 and eventually secured one. He died in Chicago on November 4, 1892.

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