Charles Smith was born to an African American father and a Native American mother. He and his father lived with his mother’s tribe until the U.S. Army drove them away. His mother was captured by soldiers a couple years later and was never seen again, whilst his father fell into a depression and became an alcoholic[1]. According to Charles, his uncle taught him how to create poisoned arrows using Oleander Sage when he was young.[2] At the age of 13, Charles ran away and wandered the country alone.[1] A veteran survivalist, Charles, who wound up in different gangs, joined the Van der Linde gang while they were passing through the Grizzlies around November 1898.