Mott was born in Kentucky in 1826 and moved to Holly Springs with his parents at an early age. He went to school at the original St. Thomas Hall with E. C. Walthall , James Autry and other Holly Springs notables. He fought in the Mexican War in 1845, as a lieutenant, with the Mississippi unit as a brave, exciting hero . After the 1845 war, he studied law under Roger Barton , and became a lawyer and his Holly Springs partners were James Autry and L.Q.C. Lamar from Oxford. After the Civil War, a sign saying Attorneys at Law, Mott, Autry, Lamar was fished from the swirling waters of the Mississippi River.
Nobody knows how it got there or where it is now.
Christopher married Sally Govan in 1853. By this time he had taken a job with the United States government and they moved him to the west coast. He and Sally went to New York where they took a Steamer to Mexico. They lived in Oregon Territory and California for awhile. When the War Between the States came along, Christopher was a general in the state militia and began forming the Jeff Davis Rifles to fight.