Rufus Hamilton "Henry" Crawford
Private/Sergeant
Company 'E' The Lynchburg Rangers
1st Tennessee Infantry (Turney's Regiment)
Enrolled 27 April 1861 at Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee. Wounded in the head at Chancellorsville, Virginia, 3 May 1863. Wounded at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 3 July 1863. Detailed as litter bearer April 1864. On the muster roll November and December 1864. Admitted 27 January 1865 to Way Hospital, Meridian, Missouri with a wound. Deserted 8 March 1865. Took the Oath at Nashville, Tennessee on 25 April 1865 as a Rebel Deserter. Returned home June 1865.
Applied for Texas Soldier's Pension on January 19, 1925. Reported to be in feeble condition and partially blind. Assets of $50.00 cash, no property. Rejected for pension on February 27, 1925 (reported as a deserter although affidavits supplied refuted this allegation.
On his pension application Crawford denied deserting or taking the Oath stating he was admitted to hospital on 20 January 1865 and was on furlough at the home of a John Wesley Silver in Decatur, Alabama when General R E Lee surrendered at Appomattox. He also denied being in (Memphis?) during April, instead stating he was travelling from Decatur to Winchester, Tennessee during this period of time, arriving during '...wheat thrashing time...'.