James M. Chatfield was born circa 1838. He married Julia and, in April 1861 they had a daughter, Mary. The family lived in Grand Haven, Michigan as the Civil War broke out, and he enlisted into Company D of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry on September 6, 1861. With that unit he began his service in the Western theater, where he saw some light skirmishing. While moving throughout Mississippi, the 2nd Cavalry came briefly under the command of Philip H. Sheridan, a recently promoted colonel who would rise to the rank of brigadier general later in the war. Chatfield and his comrades moved into Kentucky, where they participated in the battle at Perryville in October 1862. Toward the end of the year they moved into Tennessee, where they remained for much of 1863.
Chatfield was promoted to the rank of corporal in January 1863. In the summer of that year he became ill, suffering from chronic diarrhea. He noted the sickness in a letter written in July, and by October he was in a convalescent camp with other soldiers suffering from various maladies. By November he had been moved to a Union hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. On December 7, 1863 Chatfield passed away, becoming one of over 27.500 Civil War soldiers to die from chronic diarrhea. He was buried in Nashville.
