Born in New Jersey in September 1842, Charles Francis Craver was was 19 years old and living in Grinnell, Iowa, when he enlisted as a private in Company E, 4th Iowa Cavalry. Craver was promoted to 8th corporal on March 21, 1863. He reenlisted as a Vetern Volunteer on December 14, 1863. Craver was promoted to 6th corporal on January 1, 1864 and then 4th corporal on May 1, 1864. During Price's 1864 invasion of Missouri, Craver fought in Independence, at the Big Blue River (Byram's Ford), Mine Creek, Little Osage River, and at Charlot's Farm. Craver was next promoted to 1st corporal on December 5, 1864, 2d sergeant on December 24, 1864, and sergeant major on June 11, 1865. In May 1865, Sgt. Charles F. Craver was assigned guard escort duty to take three high ranking Confederate prisoners to New York to stand trial. Craver mustered out with the non-commissioned staff on August 10, 1865 in Atlanta, Georgia.
After the war, Craver married Angelena Catherine Hambleton in 1866. Craver was elected to rerpesent Poeshiek County in the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly.He also served as president of the First National Bank of Grinnell. Craver helped to found Craver & Steele, a farm equipment manufacturer and invented the first successful twelve-foot binder for cutting and binding small grain. Later, Craver moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to get into the oil business, drilling wells in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Charles and his wife Angelena celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Tulsa in 1916.
Gary Craver. “Charles Francis Craver.” Find A Grave, August 25, 2004. Link.
Parker, Leonard F. History of Poweshiek County, Iowa, Vol. I. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.
Scott, William F. The Story of a Cavalry Regiment. The Career of the Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteers from Kansas to Georgia, 1861-1865. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893.
Scott, William F. Roster of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, 1861-1865 : An Appendix to “The Story of a Cavalry Regiment.” New York: J.J. Little, 1902.
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Wood, H. L. “Who’s Who in Oil and Gas.” Fuel Oil Journal 7, no. 4 (April 1916): 108–16.
———. “Who’s Who in Oil and Gas.” Fuel Oil Journal 7, no. 7 (July 1916): 110–14.