James T. Jennings was a 5 foot, 8 inch tall, 43-year-old farmer when he enlisted in 1861. He had blue eyes and sandy hair. According to the 1860 US Federal Census, he had a wife and at least two children under the age of 3 at the time of his enlistment.

He died at a military hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, from a form of sepsis, just a few weeks before the end of the Civil War. The sepsis set in after his left leg was partially amputated, a result of a gunshot wound in his left ankle received on February 6, 1865, at the Battle of Hatchers Run, Virginia. At the time of his death, he had $6 in cash, a flannel shirt, a cap, an outer coat, and a pair of socks. The items were returned to his widow, Ann. She later successfullly applied for a pension based on his military service.