Charles Roberts was a man unafraid to take risks.  He was born in St. John, New Brunswick in a time when many men never saw land beyond the horizon of their birthplace.  Yet Charles, when only 20 years old, had already traveled through the Midwest and on to California and Nevada.  His varied skills and work ethic provided for his support but also won the continued respect of friends and employers in the West.

Charles’s daily entries in his diary offer insight to his personal feelings.  But they provide a detailed chronicle of the storied military regiment he was about to join, the Cal Battalion of the 2^nd Mass Cavalry.

          While working in Virginia City, Charles received news of a battalion of Californians volunteering for service in the Civil War.  Whether motivated by patriotic fervor or a fancy for the thrill of combat, Charles wrestled with the decision of enlisting.  He pens his thoughts on April 8, 1863, “have a great notion of going East with the Cavalry that goes from San Francisco…am studying verry deep on the question.  I will be leaving a situation here to go, but that’s nothing to what is at stake.

On the following day, he states emphatically, “have concluded to go.”  To do so was no small endeavor for Charles.  He immediately made his way on foot to Carson City, then by stage over the snow clad Sierra Nevada to San Francisco.  Possibly fearing the Cavalry Battalion would fill its ranks before he could arrive, Charles left the following morning, not taking time to stop and see his family.  On his arrival, Charles met Captain DeMerritt and passed his physical examination.  He was 5’7½” in height (a bit taller than average for his day) with dark hair and hazel eyes.  He stated his occupation on his enlistment document as “carpenter.”  

Charles describes his first days of military life frankly; “Monday the 13^th April 1863 – after breakfast walked up to headquarters Sit around there and see them drill, finly went with the Capt. with four other men to be Examined, four of passed and were sworn in to the Service of the United States for three years unless sooner discharged done my first drilling afternoon it comes verry awkerd at first, fine day”.

          Careful reading of Charles’s journal belies the close relationship he held with his father.  A few days prior to the company’s departure for the war, Charles’s father made the trip down from Sacramento to bid his son farewell, maybe for the last time.  On sailing day, the two of them leisurely strolled about the town, seemingly lingering on their remaining hours together.  On embarkation day, April 23^rd, amid the bustle of loading gear on the steamship the two went onboard ship and remained together until moments before sailing. 

Charles’ comments: “Father come to se me off for the wars, he seemed to think I am doing right but hates to see me go…. Father was on the boat until she was nearly ready to do, when I bid him a kind farewell.”  Then, without the marvelous fanfare that accompanied the Cal 100 and Cal Battalion’s departures, the steamer pushed away and glided through the bay into the open ocean, leaving the Golden State behind.

After sailing down the coast of Mexico on the steamship Sonora, and crossing the Isthmus of Panama, the Company boarded the Steamer Ocean Queen and sailed through hostile seas toward Massachusetts, accompanied by the gunboat Connecticut for protection. 

After a brief training in Massachusetts, Charles joined the rest of his company and arrived in Washington D.C. where they were assigned to duties along the Potomac.  Pvt. Roberts’s service seems to have drawn the attention of his superiors as he was soon promoted to Corporal and then again, to the rank of Sergeant of Co. F on March 1st.  The regimen of picket duty, punctuated by skirmishes with Colonel Mosby and his rangers in Virginia became their routine.  Although these skirmishes were not on a scale as grand as the battles making the newspapers, they were no less deadly to the troopers of both sides.

During one such clash, Charles and his company were ordered to charge a Confederate line of skirmishers.  The forty man line of Cavalry dwindled to twenty as the no man’s land between the contenders was crossed.  Another Sergeant, John Passage of Co. F who rode beside Sgt. Roberts described the scene in a letter to home; “when the bullets commenced whistling around our heads pretty freely [some were] suddenly taken with the slow horse fever.  At the time of our charge....Sgt. Roberts & myself had fast horses & succeeded in getting some ways ahead of the rest of our boys.  We help capture the 13 & then started after more....Roberts & myself were within twenty rods of their Reserve....they gave us a few shots.  Neither of us were touched but my horse was hit twice.”

In the Autumn of 1864, hit-and-miss skirmishing gave way to large scale maneuvers as the 2^nd Mass Cavalry joined the command of General Phillip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley.  Here, during their first pitched battle on October 19^th at Cedar Creek, the men accounted well for themselves but Sgt. Roberts was wounded, shot in the right thigh.  He convalesced during the ensuing months and rejoined the regiment in February of 1865.  It was likely at this time that Charles received the Cavalry Saber inscribed that accompanies his promotion documents. 

From this point in time, Sgt. Roberts participated in the closing drama of the Civil War as General Sheridan’s cavalry and the Union Army grappled with the Army of Northern Virginia, finally bringing the Confederates to bay at Appomattox Court House.  Sgt. Roberts then witnessed the surrender of the butternut forces there and a few months later, on July 20, 1865 mustered out of the service with the rest of the Regiment at Fairfax Court House, Virginia.

Charles returned to California and lived in Oakland.  He married Catherine Degau in San Francisco on 14 July 1866, almost a year after his discharge.  During the remaining years of his life, his kinship with the men of the storied Cal 100 and Cal Battalion was kept alive as he participated in the reunions and encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic.

  Charles died on March 2, 1896 at the age if 55 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland.