Although the eight-volume 1908 compilation "The Union Army" by various editors states in the biographical sketch of Rutherford in volume 7, p. 220 that: "He then took part in the contest at Jackson, and under his leadership his regiment distinguished itself sufficiently to be praised by Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, commanding the expeditionary army", in volume 6, pp. 517–518, in the sketch of the Battle of Jackson, the statement only refers to praise for the regiment. Rutherford could not have taken part in the Jackson Expedition with the 97th Illinois Infantry Regiment because he took sick leave due to "camp dysentary" and returned to Alton, Illinois to recover on July 5, 1863. Historians Stewart Sifakis and Roger D. Hunt confirm that Rutherford was not with the regiment at Jackson.