Charles T. Penfield was born around August 1840 in Connecticut. By the early 1860s, he was working as a mechanic in Cromwell, Connecticut.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 12, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 20^th Connecticut Infantry on September 8. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He received a spinal injury at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He mustered out on June 13, 1865.

 

He returned to Cromwell after the war, and he earned a living as a farmer. He married Ellen Edwards, and their daughter Eugenia was born around 1869. By 1870, he owned $2,500 of real estate and $600 of personal property. His wife died on August 2, 1871, and he married Maria Moore around 1875. They had at least three children: Agnes, born around 1879; Charles, born around 1882; and Walter, born around 1885.

 

They moved to Bolton, New York, in the 1870s, and he worked as a carpenter and farmer there. He applied for a federal pension in March 1886 and eventually secured one. He died in Bolton on April 24, 1927.

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