John Jacob Benepe was a farmer from Christian County, Illinois. The son of Seth W. Benepe and Sarah H. Howe Benepe, John was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on January 30, 1841. Benepe moved to Illinois sometime prior to the outbreak of the U. S. Civil War, while his brother, Frank L. Benepe, eventually settled in Bozeman, Montana Territory. On July 26, 1861, John enlisted in Company G, Forty-First Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served exclusively in the war's western theater, taking part in the campaigns of forts Donaldson and Henry, the advance on Corinth, Mississippi, and the siege of Vicksburg. He was wounded in the shoulder at Jackson, Mississippi on July 12, 1863, but recovered to participate in the Red River campaign before his enlistment ran out. After the war he resumed farming at Assumption, Illinois, where he became active in the local Grand Army of the Republic post and occasionally published war reminiscences under the pen name "The Little Mexican." John married Mary "Mollie" E. Pitzer on May 23, 1872. The couple had one daughter, Lura Mary (or Mary Lura) on April 5, 1873; Mary died the following day. John Benepe died on November 7, 1895.