Rosser, Charles P.

Born: 1829-03-03 Kentucky

Died: 1874-02-11 Maysville, Kentucky

Charles P. Rosser was a telegraph operator. Little is known of his early life. Rosser became a telegraph operator working first in Burlington, Iowa, and by January 1851, in Springfield, Illinois. Rosser was part of William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua in 1855, barely escaping with his life. He eventually moved back to his native Kentucky, living first in Paris, where he operated the telegraph office, and later Maysville. During the Civil War, he worked as a military telegraph operator for the Confederacy. He died from a drug overdose.

Abraham Lincoln to William Martin; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Maysville, Mason County, KY, 68; Fold3, US, Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-1865 M346, National Archives, Washington, DC; The Maysville Bulletin (KY), 12 February 1874, 2:1; The Paris True Kentuckian (KY), 18 February 1874, 3:5; Tri-Weekly Kentucky Yeoman(Frankfort), 28 February 1874, 3:3; Journal of the Telegraph (New York), 1 April 1874, 102:2; Gravestone, Maysville Cemetery, Maysville, KY.