Charles Ray Brayton was born on August 16, 1840, in Rhode Island to William Brayton and Anna Clarke. His father was a Republican politician who served in Congress in the late 1850s. He grew up and attended school in Warwick, Rhode Island, and he enrolled at Brown University in 1859.
He left school in 1861 to join the Union army, and he received a commission as a 1st lieutenant in the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. The regiment took part in the siege of Charleston. He was promoted to captain in November 1862, to lieutenant colonel in October 1863, and to colonel in early 1864. He mustered out in October 1864.
He returned to Rhode Island after leaving the army, and he married Antoinette Belden soon afterward. He joined the Regular Army after the war, receiving a commission as a captain in the 17th United States Infantry in March 1867. He resigned in July, and he received an appointment as postmaster of Port Royal, South Carolina. He later became township clerk of Warwick and then postmaster of Providence, Rhode Island.
In 1880, he became chief of the Rhode Island State Police. He served as chairman of the Republican State Committee, and he was named to the Republican National Committee in 1896. He eventually developed cataracts in both eyes and became functionally blind. He resigned from the state committee in July 1907, and he died of diabetes in Providence on September 23, 1910.
Image: Charles R. Brayton (courtesy Wikicommons)