Son of William Henry Chichester and Jane Elliot Peyton.
Daniel M. Chichester was born in Fairfax County, and was little more than a boy when the differences between the states of the North and South came to a head in the sudden breaking out of the great Civil war. Espousing the cause of the Confederacy, the youth enlisted in the army of the Gray and served until the close of the terrible civil strife. At that time he returned to his home and resumed his educational training, and eventually he was admitted to the Virginia bar, among whose leaders he soon secured a recognized place. A man of great natural and acquired talent, he served for many years until his death, as county judge of Fairfax County, as well as of what was formerly Alexandria County, but which is now Arlington County. He was one of his community’s reliable, trustworthy and public spirited citizens, whose death, in 1897, caused universal sorrow. Mrs. Chichester, who was a native of Stafford, Virginia, survived him until 1919.
Married Julia Sully April 14, 1860. Postwar he re-married November 13 1867: Agnes Robinson Moncure, daughter of Judge R.C.L. Moncure of Stafford County (Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals).
Father of 5 sons, 2 daughters; one son, Richard Henry Lee Chichester, also became a Judge on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
In 1873, he was Superintendent of Fairfax County Schools. Later he became Judge, County Court of Fairfax.
Mason and a Vestryman in the Zion Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Va.

Residence Fairfax, Va.
Enlisted on 5/13/1861 at Fairfax Station, VA as a Private, he mustered into Company D "Fairfax Rifles", VA 17th Infantry.
POW 6/30/1862 Frazier's Farm, VA.; confined 7/4/1862 Fort Columbus, NY.; confined 7/9/1862 Fort Warren, MA.; released 7/31/1862 for exchange.
Wounded 9/17/1862 Sharpsburg, MD.
Promoted to Sergt Major 2/11/1863; transferred into "2nd" Co. VA 16th Battalion State Guard Cavalry; owned his own horse.
Detached 7/24/1864 with "other portion of the Battalion".
On 1/20/1865 final rolls.