Hello, Louann:

This is a tough one, and I can understand your frustration. Since Little Rock is a National Cemetery, the one buried in Little Rock is most likely Asa J. Shrum, who was a private in Co D, 2nd Arkansas Infantry. The 2nd was a Union regiment.

There is a Joel F. Shrum, Co. K, 2nd Tennessee Infantry, CSA, buried in Liberty Riddlin Cemetery, Northern TWP, Franklin County, Illinois, but there are some discrepancies. Cemetery records give his birth date as 24 Jan 1844 (TN), which does not agree with the 1900 census for Crawford County, AR. He appears in this record with a birth date of July 1838.

In addition, he does not appear on any roster from the 2nd TN. He does, however, show up in Company K of the 20th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. Since his company was “K” in both regiments, there is the possibility that we have a clerical error here. Someone in the past might have inadvertently dropped the “0” from 20th, resulting in his being recorded in the 2nd TN.

Other than the conflicting birth date, which is not a rare occurrence, it looks as though the Joel F. Shrum in Illinois might possibly be the most productive lead. To reinforce this (circumstantially), various genealogical sources show he “moved to Illinois.” Nothing conclusive, but this may give you another point of departure. Good luck to you.

You might wish to check the following sites:

2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Company D (Asa J. Shrum)
http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/2arcod.htm

Keen, E.J., 20th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, 1997
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~providence/cw_20k.htm

Muster Roll for Company K, 20th Tennessee Infantry
Men from Sumner, Wilson and Smith Counties
http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnsumner/fg5k.htm

Confederate Soldiers Buried in Illinois
http://www.iltrails.org/Confed_burials.html

Additional source: 1900 Census: Jasper TWP, Crawford County, Arkansas; Roll: T623 56; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 54.