Charles Cruft was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1826 and graduated from Wabash College in 1842. He taught school and worked at a bank before reading law and being admitted to the bar in 1848. He became president of the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad in 1857 and bought the Terre Haute Express newspaper in 1860. On a business trip to Washington, DC, in 1861, he witnessed the Battle of Manassas, then returned to Indiana and contacted Governor Oliver P. Morton, who appointed him colonel of the 31st Indiana Volunteer Infantry. After service at Evansville and Camp Calhoun in McLean County, Kentucky, he received brigade command and led his brigade at Fort Donelson and at Shiloh, where he was severely wounded at the Hornets' Nest and earned promotion to brigadier general. In August 1862, he distinguished himself at the Battle of Richmond while commanding a brigade of inexperienced troops, and his brigade was present but not engaged at Perryville on October 8, 1862. He served with the Army of the Cumberland for the rest of the war, commanding a division in Granger's IV Corps at Chattanooga and a division at Nashville that included the provisional United States Colored Troops brigade. Brevetted major general in March 1865, he returned after the war to Terre Haute and his law practice, became a member of the Supreme Commandery, Knights Templar of the United States, and died in 1883 before being buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.