Joseph M. Roberts

Born: About 1842 near Roberts Switch in what is now Putnam County, Tennessee

Died: 20 Dec 1862 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee

No Photo Available

Company I, 5th Tennessee Cavalry, USA

24 Nov 1862-20 Dec 1862

Joseph M. was the son of Henry Roberts and Martha Elizabeth "Bell" Whitefield.  He never married.  He saw no action during the Civil War, but died of chronic diarrhea in the Regimental Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee where he had been admitted soon after his enlistment.

As far as burial, records show that he was interned in a temporary grave "#1907 in Nash City".  After the war, the identifiable graves were moved to the Nashville National Cemetery and have tombstones with names on them.  Those soldiers whose remains were not identifiable were placed in a single grave of "unknown soldiers" and reinterned in the Nashville National Cemetery.  Joseph does not have a tombstone in the Nashville National Cemetery so we believe he is in the one grave for unknown (or unidentified) soldiers.  As to why grave #1907 could not be located or identified, no one can tell me.