Benjamin F. Williford was living in Texas by the early 1860s. He enlisted in the Confederate army on March 10, 1862, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company I of the 27th Texas Cavalry. He was wounded in the Battle of Iuka on September 19, 1862, and Union forces captured him after the battle. He died in Iuka, Mississippi, on October 8, 1862.