Charles Edmund Smiley was born on October 3, 1843, in Newburgh, New York, to Abram and Agnes Smiley. His father was a farm laborer. The family moved to Lodi, Illinois, around 1853, and by 1860, Smiley was working as a farm laborer there.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 1, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company I of the 42^nd Illinois Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. An early biographer described him as “a model Volunteer Boy Soldier…quiet, unassuming, yet always ready to do whatever duty was assigned him, a friend and favorite with all his comrades.” The regiment took part in the siege of Corinth, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. He eventually earned a promotion to sergeant, and he was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in October 1865. He mustered out on December 16, 1865.

 

Smiley returned to Lodi after the war, and he married Emeline Brown on January 28, 1868. They had at least two children: Clyde, born around 1869; and Gay, born around 1872. He worked as a druggist and grocer, and by 1870, he owned $350 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in September 1879 and eventually secured one. The family moved to Winfield, Illinois, in the late 1800s, and Smiley worked as a bank cashier. By 1910, they were living in West Chicago, Illinois. He died there on August 29, 1914.

 

Image: Charles E. Smiley (Memorials of Deceased Companions of the Commandery of the State of Illinois)

SOURCES