From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (PIONEERS & PATRIOTS: Anderson County Military Servicemen, Revolutionary War - WWI)

Jenkins was born a slave in Anderson County about 1839, but sometime prior to the Civil War he was taken from his native Lawrenceburg. He remained a slave into adulthood; President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states openly hostile toward the Union. Late in the war, however, the government called for the enlistment of colored regiments, and all who answered the call were granted immediate freedom.

Jenkins therefore made his way to Natchez, Mississippi to enlist, and in August or on September 1, 1863 was enrolled as a corporal in Company B of the 5th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment; he was later promoted to corporal. At the time of his enlistment, he testified he was born in Anderson County  about 1839.

Jenkins served garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi with expeditions to Yazoo City, Mississippi and to the gulf. He was mustered out of service May 20, 1866.