Charles Cleaves Cole

Charles Cleaves Cole (May 22, 1841 – March 17, 1905) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Hiram, Maine, Cole read law to enter the bar in 1866, and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1867. He was a Private in the United States Army during the American Civil War, serving in the 17th Maine Infantry, from 1862 to 1865. He was in private practice in Portland, Maine from 1866 to 1867, in West Union, West Virginia from 1868 to 1870, in Parkersburg, West Virginia from 1870 to 1874.

He was a Prosecuting attorney of Doddridge County, West Virginia from 1869 to 1870, and was a city solicitor, Parkersburg, West Virginia from 1874 to 1876, thereafter resuming his private practice in Parkersburg until 1878, and in Washington, D.C. from 1878 to 1891. He was the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1891 to 1893.

On December 12, 1892, Cole was nominated by President Benjamin Harrison to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Charles P. James. Cole was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 28, 1893, and received his commission the same day. Cole served in that capacity until his resignation on April 22, 1901.

Cole thereafter returned to private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1901 until his death there in 1905.