Charles Hamilton was born on November 16, 1822, at Western, New York, United States, the son of Zane A. Hamilton and his wife, Sylvia Putnam. He was a direct descendant of William Hamilton who came to New England from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1668, was later prosecuted for killing the first whale off the New England coast, and died in 1746 at the age of 103. During Charles Hamilton’s boyhood, his parents moved from Oneida to Erie County, New York.
In Erie County, New York Charles received his early education at the Aurora Academy. He entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1839 and graduated in 1843.
Assigned for service as a lieutenant of infantry, Charles Hamilton participated with distinction in the battles of the Mexican War, was grievously wounded at Molino del Rey, and was brevetted captain for gallant conduct. After two years as recruiting officer at Rochester, New York, and a period of service in the Indian country, he resigned his commission in 1853, hoping, as did Grant and many others, to gain success in other fields. He settled at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and engaged in farming and the manufacture of flour until the outbreak of the Civil War.
In the early summer of 1861 Hamilton recruited and organized the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteers, and was commissioned colonel of that regiment. He was soon promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and participated in the siege of Yorktown and in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. Then, having been transferred to the West, while in command of a division under Rosecrans he took part in the battle of Iuka in September 1862, and two weeks later at Corinth again distinguished himself by his coolness, bravery, and high soldierly qualities. His own accounts of Iuka and Corinth were published in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887).
On Grant’s recommendation Hamilton was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers, September 19, 1862. From January to April 1863 he was in command of the XVI Army Corps and the District of West Tennessee, but he felt that he had not been given the command to which his rank, his record, and his talents entitled him, and he therefore resigned his commission on April 13. Returning to Fond du Lac, he resumed his former business.
In 1869, President Grant appointed him United States marshal at Milwaukee, in which office he served eight years. He continued to live at Milwaukee and for many years successfully manufactured linseed oil. In 1878 he became president of the Hamilton Paper Company. He served as a member of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin from 1866 to 1875, being president of the board, 1869-1875, and in that capacity was a successful champion of a liberal state policy in relation to higher education. He was commander for a time of the Wisconsin department of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. In 1889, when the national reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Milwaukee, Hamilton was too feeble to attend, but the survivors of the old 3rd Wisconsin Volunteers marched to his home to pay respect to their first colonel. Less than two years later he died.
Hamilton married Sophia Jane Shepard of Canandaigua, New York, in February 1849.
