Rufus W. Criswell was born around 1844 in Maryland to Nicholas and Mary Criswell. His father was a farmer and railroad engineer who owned $200 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Howard, Maryland, until the 1850s, when they moved to Barnesville, Ohio. His mother died in the early 1850s.
He enlisted in the Union army on July 24, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 98th Ohio Infantry on August 21. The regiment took part in the Battle of Perryville and the Tullahoma campaign. He died on September 13, 1863.