Melvin Lewis Nichols was an 18 year old, single resident of Mansfield on November 15, 1861 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. G of the 12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was transferred to Co. H on April 1, 1862 and reenlisted as a veteran on January 17, 1864. On November 26, 1864, he was transferred to Co. A of the 12th Battalion Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and mustered out on August 12, 1865 in Hartford, Connecticut.
He was born about 1844 in Mansfield to Thomas and Laura (Colburn) Nichols. In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he is a 15 year old farm laborer in the household of Thomas Nichols. His brother, Charles Waterman Nichols, a 20 year old farm laborer, who served in the Civil War from Mansfield is also living in the household. After the Civil War, he returned to Mansfield and began working in a thread mill. He began as a thread finisher, was a boss spooler by 1910 and by the time of the 1920 U.S. census, he was an overseer in a silk mill.
Melvin Nichols married Adella A. Edmond about 1872. Children include: Frank M. Nichols, born about 1873; Clarence E. Nichols, born about November, 1880 and Leslie M. Nichols (son), born about December 1885. Adella (Edmond) Nichols died in 1903 and Melvin married second, Nellie Dorman about 1910.
On August 26, 1891 he applied for an invalid pension, No. 911,748 that was granted under certificate No. 983,366.
Melvin L. Nichols died on January 26, 1939 in Groton, Connecticut and is buried at the New Mansfield Center Cemetery in Mansfield. He is believed to be the Mansfield Civil War soldier to live the longest and was about 95 when he died.