Charles Melton (or Milton) was the son of Nancy L. Lively and Wiley Jones of DeKalb County, Georgia. He served briefly in the 36th Regiment Georgia Volunteers; resigned with a disability, was elected captain of Company H, 2nd Regiment. Georgia Reserve Infantry in 1864; and rose to be lieutenant colonel of that regiment. Later he served in the Georgia state legislature and ran as Populist candidate for Georgia state treasurer.