Sears enlisted as a private in Co. A of the 34th Infantry on May 14, 1861. He transferred Co. A of the 5th
VA Cavalry on August 1,1862. In 1864, he served for several months as an ordnance clerk. Later biographies state that he was present at the surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
After the war's end, Sears attended the University of Virginia in 1865-1866. In 1867, Sears moved to Paducah, KY where the 1870 census lists his profession as lawyer. He later moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he became a prominent journalist and newspaper editor, and he was heavily involved in local politics. He died February 25, 1904 in Jefferson County, KY with a cause of "paralysis," probably a stroke, listed on his death certificate. Although he had never progressed beyond the rank of private in his military service, his New York Times obituary in 1904 uses the honorific "Colonel,"and indicates he served on the staff of General Fitzhugh Lee, although the surviving military records do not support any close connection. An 1882 NY Times article about a street fight between Sears and another Louisville journalist in which both were shot calls him colonel at that time.
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