Charles Morse was born around 1834 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, to William Morse. He grew up in Marlborough and began work as a shoemaker by 1855. He enlisted in the Union army on September 4, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 26^th Massachusetts Infantry on October 18, 1861. According to his military service records, he was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment was stationed in Mississippi and Alabama, and Morse was detailed as a hospital attendant in March 1863. He mustered out in Lowell, Massachusetts, on November 7, 1864. He married Almira Whitney around 1866, and they had at least two children: Charles, born around 1866; and Emma, born around 1869. The family lived in Marlborough, and Morse worked as a laborer and farmer after the war. He died of phthisis in Marlborough on April 29, 1891.

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