Charles Spears was born into slavery in Albemarle County, Virginia, around 1841, and he moved to Saline County, Missouri, sometime before the war. He belonged to William Piper and worked as an enslaved farmer. Spears enlisted in the Union army on November 28, 1863, in Warrensburg, Missouri, for a period of three years. He mustered in as a private in Company A in the 62nd USCT Infantry Regiment on December 7 at Benton Barracks in St. Louis. His enlistment records describe him as 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and a black complexion. The army sent the regiment to Port Hudson, Louisiana, where Spears died of an unknown illness on February 27, 1864. His captain made a final inventory of his effects, showing that Spears owned nothing but the army-supplied clothes on his back.