Charles Yates (March 1, 1808 – September 26, 1870) was a Brigadier-General during the American Civil War in command of the volunteer depot of New York City in 1861.

[1][2] He was born on March 1, 1808, in Schenectady, New York,[3] the fourth of six children and the third son of Henry Christopher Yates, an attorney-at-law; and for a number of years a New York State Senator and member of the Council of Appointment[3] and Catharine, daughter of Johannes Mynderse[4] and a grand nephew of Joseph Christopher Yates, who was an American lawyer, politician, statesman, and founding trustee of Union College.

He was also a descendant of Jellis Douwese Fonda, who emigrated in 1642 to the Dutch colony of New Netherland (New York).

Their daughter, Stella Yates[10] (November 23, 1866 – February 2, 1929), married on June 10, 1891, in New York City, Benjamin Brewster, the son of the Rev.

[15] In April 1881 New York Supreme Court heard a case involving Yates' daughters and the estate of his first father-in-law, James Rowe.