Mitchell Sasser was born around 1861 in North Carolina. Sasser was a farmer who resided in Craven County, North Carolina. Sasser was charged with larceny on April 13, 1878, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Sasser was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2654. In the descriptive register, Sasser's race is noted as Black. Sasser was seventeen years old when he was arrested. Sasser was noted as being able to both read and write. During his incarceration, Sasser was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on February 11, 1880.