Civil War - Joshua Benjamin Renfrow (born 1832)

Who is Joshua Benjamin Renfrow to us? He is is the maternal great-grandfather of Zola.

I've been curious about Joshua Renfrow (1832-1864) for as long as I've had his name on my lists. He died in the civil war and that always made me stop for a moment and consider his widow Jane and his children Sarah, Mark, and Joshua "Josh" Benjamin (1861-1949) Our family is through the Josh line. I began researching and as much as I'd like to say I paid attention to Mr. Rossbach in high school, I didn't.

The Civil War was the first war in American History where a substantial proportion of the adult male population participated. Almost every American would have know friends, family members, or neighbors who went to war with many never to return.  Many of our ancestors participated, both Union and Confederate.

Union States included: Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Abraham Lincoln was their President.

Confederate States included: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Jefferson Davis was their President.

Border States included: Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri.  In border states loyalties were divided. Each side, Union and Confederate, undertook measures including brutal guerrilla warfare, intended to persuade or sometimes conquer areas of divided loyalty. Border states were places that pitted neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother.

Washington, Dakotas, Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and Indian Territory (Oklahoma) were considered Union but were not states.

The aftermath of the Civil War battles introduced Americans to death on an unprecedented scale. Neither individuals, nor institutions, nor government were prepared to deal with such devastating loss of human life. Never before or since have we killed so many of our own. 

Approximately 620,000 soldiers died in the war.  While not all the soldiers were married, the war created an unprecedented number of young widows, many who had only been married a very short time.  About half of all widows remarried during or after the conflict, especially younger widows.  But because of the wars toll on young men, they were likely to marry men much older than themselves or even younger.  This had a big impact on marriage patterns during this time, and explains many of our ancestors who were married with the wife at 17 to 23 years of age and their spouse 44 yo 47 years of age.  

Our Joshua (1832-1864) was born in Tennessee which was one of the most divided states in the country at the outset of the war. Tennessee was staunchly pro-Union at the beginning; however the situation changed when Fort Sumter was bombarded and Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Tennesseans saw this as a threat to their "southern brethren" and the only real pockets of pro-Unionism came from the eastern portion of the State. In fact, Tennessee would furnish more troops for the Union than the other Confederate states, combined.

Joshua volunteered February 20, 1864 in Clifton Tennessee for the Union. He served in the 2nd Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry. His rank was that of Private in Company F organized out of Nashville, Clifton and Franklin Tennessee. Service record for Company F includes Duty at Clifton and on line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad until November 1864.

According to his military records, Joshua Renfrow was killed at the M & M Railroad line by lightning. Yes, you read that correctly, lightning. During the civil war there was no "notification" to the next of kin when a soldier was killed or wounded. Often the Company wasn't always sure exactly what happened. Family records indicated that he "died in 1864 civil war" but no more detail than that.  Joshua's military records says:

Muster Roll for July and August 1864

Name not born upon any other roll

(he didn't end up with a different company)

Return not on file

(he never checked in again)

No record of death on file

A muster roll is a register of the officers and men in a military unit or ship's company. (I didn't know)

An entry from a Union Soldier in that area, during the time when I believe Joshua was killed said:

"A violent rainstorm swept through the camps, uprooting trees, scattering tents, and stampeding horses and mules. In late afternoon, another fearful storm occurred with vivid displays of lightening. Tents were struck in both the Union and Confederate camps. Four soldiers of the 4th Alabama were slain by one bolt. When darkness fell, the storm intensified. In the Federal camp, bolts of lightning shattered gun carriages in the artillery park and fire leap from muzzle to muzzle of the artillery pieces."  

Another:  "The 2nd was in the rear and did not succeed in getting across until just at night, consequently we had to pass through this dismal swamp after night. In places the water was nearly deep enough to swim a horse. To add to the gloom of the occasion, we were overtaken with a severe thunder storm. The glare of the lightning, the deafening peals of thunder, and the violent wind coupled with the fact that we were in a heavily timbered swamp, rendered the situation anything but a pleasant one. There were many narrow escaped from drowning, both by man and beast."

There is an interesting exhibit at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site - a Model 1861 rifle and bayonet left over from a lightning strike.  According to the tag on the rifle which was equipped with a Confederate-made Tredegar socket bayonet:  "During a thunderstorm, a sentry’s musket was struck by lightning which left it just as you see it. Despite the intense heat caused by the lightening, a regulation Civil War paper cartridge was found intact in the breech when the weapon was disassembled for cataloging and preservation. The identity of the sentry, who survived, is not known. It is believed that he was a Confederate since, while the rifle is a Springfield contract arm, the bayonet is apparently of Confederate manufacture."

At that time in our nation there were very spotty records for widow pensions.  The Union had better benefits, but in 1890 a survivors and widow's census was undertaken.  I cannot find Joshua's widow or any of his children listed as applying for a pension.  However, by that time Joshua's widow had remarried.

Below are snapshots from the records.  It's a bit sad that this 32 year old man volunteered for the Union, was there 6 months and died by lightning strike.  

*much of this information taken from the Soldiers & Sailors Database, National Park Service website.