J. W. Whitfield was born in Nash County, North Carolina ca. 1834. At the time of the Federal Census of 1860, he was employed as an overseer in Warren County, NC, where he lived with his wife, Mary E. Whitfield (b. ca. 1837) and their 3-year-old son, William. Whitfield enlisted as a private in Co. I, 30th NC Inf. on May 1, 1862. His military records indicate that he was AWOL from September to December 1862. Whitfield was captured at Kelly’s Ford on November 7, 1863, confined at Point Lookout, Maryland, paroled on November 1, 1864 and exchanged on November 15, 1864.