Joseph Robinson was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in the first half of the nineteenth century, but exactly when is not clear. In an era long before birth certificates, military paperwork shows he was age 40 in 1864, but an 1892 death record lists him as age 60 at that time, close enough to show a birth from about 1824 to 1832.
On September 21, 1864, he enlisted and mustered into company K of the 117th United Stated Colored Infantry (USCI) regiment in Covington, Ky. for a standard three-year term. He measured 5 feet, 6 inches tall and had black hair, black eyes, and a black complexion. His occupation was farming.
The 117th formed at Covington, Ky., in the summer of 1864. It moved south to Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, Kentucky before heading east to Baltimore in October. From there, it moved to City Point, Virginia, and in 1865 may have taken part part in the Appomattox Campaign, which ended with the fall of Petersburg and the surrender of Robert E. Lee and his forces on April 9.
Whethet this unit was present at Lee’s surrender is unclear, even to the National Park Service. One of their sites reports the 117th was there, but one more specifically focused on the events at Appomattox does not include the 117th or Joseph.
The 117th did remain in the Petersburg, Va. area until moving to Brazos Santiago, Texas in June. They were likely in Texas on June 19th when General Gordon Granger issued an order to begin the enforcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas.
These men remained in Texas on garrison duty until mustering out on August 10, 1867, in Brazos Santiago.1
During his service, Joseph was charged two cents in mid-1865 for his loss of a tampion, a small wooden tool used to keep dirt and water out of a musket’s barrel.
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| A Tampion, from http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2016/02/what-is-tompion.html |
After the fighting had ended, some unexpected danger remained. Joseph suffered a painful wound when he:
was disabled by the loss of the third finger of the right hand and deep wounds on the other fingers of the same hand incurred while in the line of duty, assisting in cutting up beef in the subsistence department on the 21st of June 1866. He is also accidentally overage. Probable case for pension.
On the same form, the examining surgeon noted: “old age and injury of right hand to an extent which disables him from performing the duties of a soldier. He is unfit for the Invalid Corps.”
The Invalid Corps, by then officially known as the Veterans Reserve Corps, was a unit in which men physically unable for full military duty were able to perform less-demanding tasks, such as cooking or guard duties. Virtually all of this unit, however, had already mustered out of the army before the surgeon examined Joseph anyway.
Joseph’s wounds had come in the processing of meat, not in combat, certainly not a tale of glory, honor, and fame, but feeding troops is a vital, often under-appreciated, duty in every army. He contributed to that important task and even sacrificed his health doing so.
Because of this injury, Joseph passed time in a hospital in Brownsville, Texas, then in September and October of 1866 performed daily duty in a hospital. Perhaps that assignment was due to his injury, possibly a way to give him more time to heal.
The army officially discharged him on November 3, 1866, in Brazos Santiago. The surgeon recommended him for a pension, which Joseph applied for on March 1, 1876.
When discharged, Joseph was allowed to keep his knapsack, haversack, and canteen. With the war over, and so many men heading back to civilian life, the army had surplus equipment it did no longer needed and Joseph benefitted from that.
At the time he left the army, his home was in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky.
In the following decades, he disappears from most public records, but eventually found his way to Campbell County, Ky., on the southern shore of the Ohio River. Here, he passed away on December 10, 1892, in Dayton, Ky., due to pneumonia. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, though no headstone marks his grave.
He left behind his widow Hannah.
1https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UUS0117RI00C, Accessed November 29, 2022
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