Charles Davis Jameson was born on February 24, 1827 in Gorham, Maine. He grew up in Old Town, a lumber and mill town near Bangor, and Jameson enjoyed a successful career as a lumberman. He was involved in the militia, and became commander of a militia regiment. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention as a supporter of Stephen Douglas, and in 1861 was nominated as Democratic candidate for governor of Maine.

With the outbreak of war he became colonel of the 2nd Maine Infantry Regiment, the first unit from the state to leave for the front. He led the regiment at the Battle of Bull Run, where it was in Keyes’ Brigade of Tyler’s Divison.

On September 3, 1861 he was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the First Brigade of Heintzelman’s Division. This became the First Brigade of Kearney’s Division of Heintzelman’s Third Army Corps in the Penninsula Campaign. Jameson’s Brigade was the first to discover the Confederates had pulled out of their lines at Yorktown, and they came nearer to Richmond than any other unit in McClellan’s  Army.

Jameson’s horse was shot out from under him at the Battle of Fair Oaks, and Heintzelman wrote that he was “particularly distinguished” there. But it was at this time he came down with what was called “camp fever,” probably typhoid fever. He took a leave of absence to return to Maine and died while en route on a steamboat between Boston and Bangor on November 6, 1862.

He is buried in Stillwater, Maine in Riverside Cemetery.