Charles Waterman Nichols was a resident of Mansfield on August 7, 1862 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded June 3, 1864 at Cold Harbor, Virginia and his arm was amputated. Charles Nichols was discharged for disability May 8, 1865.

The descriptive muster roll of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry list his age as 22 and his occupation as farmer.  He is described as 5’ 5” tall with a fair complexion and blue eyes and dark hair.  His marital status is single. 

He was born January 26, 1840 in Mansfield to Thomas and Laura (Colburn) Nichols. In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he is a 20 year old farm laborer in the household of Thomas Nichols. His brother, Melvin Lewis Nichols, a 15 year old farm laborer, who served in the Civil War from Mansfield is also living in the household. Charles Nichols married Elizabeth C. Topliff on March 23, 1862 in Mansfield. He married second, Harriet Elizabeth (Parish) Hutchins on November 22, 1868 in Mansfield. She was the widow of George Hutchins of Co. D and in the 1860 U.S. census, they were the next household to Charles Nichols’ family. Charles and Harriet had one son, Charles T. Nichols, born about 1869. After the Civil War, Charles W. Nichols was a farmer in Mansfield until after 1900.

On May 11, 1865, he applied for an invalid pension, No. 68,089 that was granted under certificate No. 44,661. According to the list of pensioners on the roll in 1883, he was receiving a monthly pension of $24 for the loss of his left arm.

Charles W. Nichols died on September 3, 1911 and is buried in the New Mansfield Center Cemetery in Mansfield.