Born in 1818 in Union County, Pennsylvania, John M. Keim was the husband of Pennsylvania native, Narcissa (Nipple) Keim. A forty-three-year-old merchant during the outbreak of the American Civil War, he resided in Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania with his wife and his Pennsylvania-born children:

• Oliver or Otis (born in 1840, died 11 June 1872);
• Abraham Frederick (born 7 July 1843, died 16 January 1906; alternate presentations of name: Abram F. Keim, Abraham F. Keim, A. Fred. Keim);
• John F. (born 3 May 1845, died 15 October 1845);
• Emma (born 5 June 1847, died 25 July 1848);
• Zachary Taylor Keim (born June 1849);
• An unnamed infant son (born in August 1851, died 25 September 1851);
• Kate (born 3 August 1856, died on 31 August 1862);
• Margaret (“Maggie”, born in November 1859); and
• T. H. (birth and death dates unknown).

John Keim’s second son, Abraham Frederick Keim (born in Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania on 7 July 1843) would later wed Julia Ann (Zeigler) Keim, who was born on 9 October 1840.

Civil War Military Service

On 20 September 1861, at the age of forty-three, John M. Keim enrolled for Civil War military service at Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania. He then mustered in that same month at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a private with Company H of the newly-formed 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records described him at the time as being five feet, seven inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a light complexion.

Following a brief training period in light infantry tactics, Private John M. Keim and his company were sent by train with the 47th Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., where they were stationed about two miles from the White House at “Camp Kalorama” on Kalorama Heights near Georgetown beginning 21 September. The next day, Company C Musician Henry D. Wharton penned the following update for the Sunbury American newspaper:

After a tedious ride we have, at last, safely arrived at the City of ‘magnificent distances.’ We left Harrisburg on Friday last at 1 o’clock A.M. and reached this camp yesterday (Saturday) at 4 P.M., as tired and worn out a sett [sic] of mortals as can possibly exist. On arriving at Washington we were marched to the ‘Soldiers Retreat,’ a building purposely erected for the benefit of the soldier, where every comfort is extended to him and the wants of the ‘inner man’ supplied.

After partaking of refreshments we were ordered into line and marched, about three miles, to this camp. So tired were the men, that on marching out, some gave out, and had to leave the ranks, but J. Boulton Young, our ‘little Zouave,’ stood it bravely, and acted like a veteran. So small a drummer is scarcely seen in the army, and on the march through Washington he was twice the recipient of three cheers.

Acclimated somewhat to their new life, the soldiers of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry finally became part of the Army of the United States when they were officially mustered into federal service on 24 September. Three days later, they were assigned to the 3rd Brigade of Brigadier-General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, which also included the 33rd, 49th and 79th New York regiments. By that afternoon, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were on the move again.

Ordered onward by Brigadier-General Silas Casey, the Mississippi rifle-armed 47th Pennsylvania infantrymen marched behind their Regimental Band until reaching Camp Lyon, Maryland on the Potomac River’s eastern shore. At 5 p.m., they joined the 46th Pennsylvania in moving double-quick (one hundred and sixty five steps per minute using thirty-three-inch steps) across the “Chain Bridge” marked on federal maps, and continued on for roughly another mile before being ordered to make camp.

The next morning, they broke camp and moved again. Marching toward Falls Church, Virginia, they arrived at Camp Advance around dusk. There, about two miles from the bridge they had crossed a day earlier, they re-pitched their tents in a deep ravine near a new federal fort under construction (Fort Ethan Allen). They had completed a roughly eight-mile trek, were situated close to the headquarters of Brigadier-General William Farrar Smith (also known as “Baldy”) and were now part of the massive U.S. Army of the Potomac (“Mr. Lincoln’s Army”). Under Smith’s leadership, their regiment and brigade would help to defend the nation’s capital from the time of their arrival through late January when the men of the 47th Pennsylvania would be shipped south.

Once again, Company C Musician Henry Wharton recalled the regiment’s activities, noting, via his 29 September letter to the Sunbury American:

On Friday last we left Camp Kalorama, and the same night encamped about one mile from the Chain Bridge on the opposite side of the Potomac from Washington. The next morning, Saturday, we were ordered to this camp [Camp Advance near Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia], one and a half miles from the one we occupied the night previous. I should have mentioned that we halted on a high hill (on our march here) at the Chain Bridge, called Camp Lyon, but were immediately ordered on this side of the river. On the route from Kalorama we were for two hours exposed to the harrdest rain I ever experienced. Whew, it was a whopper; but the fellows stood it well – not a murmur – and they waited in their wet clothes until nine o’clock at night for their supper. Our Camp adjoins that of the N.Y. 79th (Highlanders.)….

We had not been in this Camp more than six hours before our boys were supplied with twenty rounds of ball and cartridge, and ordered to march and meet the enemy; they were out all night and got back to Camp at nine o’clock this morning, without having a fight. They are now in their tents taking a snooze preparatory to another march the morning…. I don’t know how long the boys will be gone, but the orders are to cook two days’ rations and take it with them in their haversacks….

There was a nice little affair came off at Lavensville [sic, Lewinsville], a few miles from here on Wednesday last; our troops surprised a party of rebels (much larger than our own.) killing ten, took a Major prisoner, and captured a large number of horses, sheep and cattle, besides a large quantity of corn and potatoes, and about ninety six tons of hay. A nice day’s work. The boys are well, in fact, there is no sickness of any consequence at all in our Regiment….

Sometime during this phase of duty, as part of the 3rd Brigade, the 47th Pennsylvanians were moved to a site they initially christened “Camp Big Chestnut,” in reference to a large chestnut tree growing there. The site would eventually become known to them as “Camp Griffin,” and was located roughly ten miles from Washington, D.C.

On 11 October, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers marched in the Grand Review at Bailey’s Cross Roads after having been ordered with the 3rd Brigade to Camp Griffin. In a letter home in mid-October, Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin (the leader of C Company who would be promoted in 1864 to lead the entire 47th Regiment) reported that companies D, A, C, F and I (the 47th Pennsylvania’s right wing) were ordered to picket duty after the left wing companies (B, G, K, E, and H) had been forced to return to camp by Confederate  troops.

In his letter of 13 October, Musician Henry Wharton described the duties of the average 47th Pennsylvanian, as well as the regiment’s new home:

The location of our new camp is fine and the scenery would be splendid if the view was not obstructed by heavy thickets of pine and innumerable chesnut [sic, chestnut] trees. The country around us is excellent for the Rebel scouts to display their bravery; that is, to lurk in the dense woods and pick off one of our unsuspecting pickets. Last night, however, they (the Rebels) calculated wide of their mark; some of the New York 33d boys were out on picket; some fourteen or fifteen shots were exchanged, when our side succeeded in bringing to the dust, (or rather mud,) an officer and two privates of the enemy’s mounted pickets. The officer was shot by a Lieutenant in Company H [?], of the 33d.

Our own boys have seen hard service since we have been on the ‘sacred soil.’ One day and night on picket, next day working on entrenchments at the Fort (Ethan Allen.) another on guard, next on march and so on continually, but the hardest was on picket from last Thursday morning ’till Saturday morning – all the time four miles from camp, and both of the nights the rain poured in torrents, so much so that their clothes were completely saturated with the rain. They stood it nobly – not one complaining; but from the size of their haversacks on their return, it is no wonder that they were satisfied and are so eager to go again tomorrow. I heard one of them say ‘there was such nice cabbage, sweet and Irish potatoes, turnips, &c., out where their duty called them, and then there was a likelihood of a Rebel sheep or young porker advancing over our lines and then he could take take them as ‘contraband’ and have them for his own use.’ When they were out they saw about a dozen of the Rebel cavalry and would have had a bout with them, had it not been for … unlucky circumstance – one of the men caught the hammer of his rifle in the strap of his knapsack and caused his gun to fire; the Rebels heard the report and scampered in quick time….

On Friday morning, 22 October 1861, the 47th engaged in a divisional review, described by historian Lewis Schmidt as massing “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.” On 21 November, the 47th participated in a morning divisional headquarters review that was monitored by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, followed by brigade and division drills all afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges.” Afterward, “Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.”

Before he could make that trip, however, Private John M. Keim either fell ill or was injured. Discharged from Camp Griffin,Virginia on a surgeon’s certificate of disability on 19 January 1862, he was sent back home to his family Perry County, Pennsylvania.

1862

Nearly eight months to the day of John M. Keim’s honorable discharge, John Keim’s son — Abraham Frederick Keim, resident of Newport, Pennsylvania, madecthe decision to enroll for military service in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on 12 September 1862. His entry in the Civil War Veterans’ Card File at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg provides no muster-in date or location, but does note that he was mustered as a private with Company I of the 6th Pennsylvania Militia. His U.S. Civil War Pension Index listing, however, indicates that he served with Company D rather than Company I. Much of this is moot, though, because he was discharged from the 6th Pennsylvania Militia  just over two weeks later.

1863

In 1863, at the age of forty-five, having recuperated from whatever illness or injury had plagued him during his time of service with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, John M. Keim re-enlisted for another tour of duty. Re-enrolling in Bloomfield, Perry County on 26 November, he mustered in again with his same regiment — the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers — at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 27 November. But this time, he entered as a private with Company D. He rejoined his regiment from a recruiting depot on 10 December 1863.

1864

On 25 February 1864, Private John M. Keim and his fellow D Company men and 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers set off for a phase of service in which the regiment would truly make history. Steaming for New Orleans in two groups, the men of the 47th arrived at Algiers, Louisiana on 28 February and 1 March, and were then shipped by train to Brashear City (now known as Morgan City). Following another steamer ride — to Franklin via the Bayou Teche — the 47th Pennsylvania joined the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the Department of the Gulf’s 19th Army Corps. In short order, the 47th would become the only Pennsylvania regiment to serve in the Red River Campaign of Union General Nathaniel Banks.

From 14-26 March, the 47th passed through New Iberia, Vermillionville, Opelousas, and Washington while en route to Alexandria and Natchitoches. Often short on food and water, the regiment encamped briefly at Pleasant Hill the night of 7 April before continuing on the next day, marching until mid-afternoon.

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the 2nd Division, sixty members of the 47th were cut down on 8 April during the volley of fire unleashed by during the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads. The fighting waned only when darkness fell. Exhausted, those who were uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded and the dead. After midnight, the surviving Union troops withdrew to Pleasant Hill.

The next day, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered into a critically important defensive position at the far right of the Union lines, their right flank spreading up onto a high bluff. By 3 p.m., after enduring a midday charge by the troops of Confederate Major-General Richard Taylor (a plantation owner and son of Zachary Taylor, former president of the United States), the brutal fighting still showed no signs of ending. Suddenly, just as the 47th was shifting to the left side of the massed Union forces, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania were  forced to bolster the 165th New York’s buckling lines by blocking another Confederate assault, during what has since become known as the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

Casualties were severe. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was nearly killed, and the regiment’s two color-bearers, both from Company C, were also wounded while preventing the regimental flag from falling into enemy hands. Private Ephraim Clouser of Company D was shot in his right knee and caltured by Confederate troops. Corporal Isaac Baldwin was also wounded, but avoided a similar fate. Others from the 47th who were also captured were force marched roughly one hundred and twenty-five miles to Tyler, Texas, where they were confined to Camp Ford, the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi River. Held there as prisoners of war (POWs), several died. Others were released during prisoner exchanges, beginning in July 1864.

Following what some historians have called a rout by Confederates at Pleasant Hill and others have labeled a technical victory for the Union or a draw for both sides, the 47th fell back to Grand Ecore, where they resupplied and regrouped until 22 April.

They then moved back to Natchitoches Parish on 22 April. While en route, they were attacked again, this time, at the rear of their retreating brigade, but they were able to end the encounter quickly and move on to reach Cloutierville at 10 p.m. that same night (after a forty-five-mile march).

The next morning (23 April), episodic skirmishing quickly roared into the flames of a robust fight. As part of the advance party led by Union Brigadier-General William Emory, the 47th Pennsylvanians took on the Confederate cavalry of Brigadier-General Hamilton P. Bee in the Battle of Cane River (also known as “the Affair at Monett’s Ferry” or the “Cane River Crossing”).

Responding to a barrage from the Confederate artillery’s twenty-pound Parrott guns and raking fire from enemy troops positioned near a bayou and atop a bluff, Brigadier-General Emory directed one of his brigades to keep Bee’s Confederates busy while sending two other brigades to find a safe spot for the Union force to cross the Cane River. As part of the “beekeepers,” the 47th Pennsylvania supported Emory’s artillery.

Meanwhile, additional troops under Smith’s command, attacked Bee’s flank to force a Rebel retreat, and then erected a series of pontoon bridges that enabled the 47th Pennsylvania and other Union troops to make the Cane River Crossing by the next day. As the Confederates retreated, they torched their own food stores, as well as the cotton supplies of their fellow southerners. In a letter penned from Morganza, C Company Musician Henry Wharton described what had happened:

Our sojourn at Grand Ecore was for eleven days, during which time our position was well fortified by entrenchments for a length of five miles, made of heavy logs, five feet high and six feet wide, filled in with dirt. In front of this, trees were felled for a distance of two hundred yards, so that if the enemy attacked we had an open space before us which would enable our forces to repel them and follow if necessary. But our labor seemed to the men as useless, for on the morning of 22d April, the army abandoned these works and started for Alexandria. From our scouts it was ascertained that the enemy had passed some miles to our left with the intention of making a stand against our right at Bayou Cane, where there is a high bluff and dense woods, and at the same attack Smith’s forces who were bringing up the rear. This first day was a hard one on the boys, for at 10 o’clock at night they made Cloutierville, a distance of forty-five miles. On that day the rear was attacked which caused our forces to reverse their front and form in line of battle, expecting too, to go back to the relief of Smith, but he needed no assistance, sending word to the front that he had ‘whipped them, and could do it again.’ It was well that Banks made so long a march on that day, for on the next we found the enemy prepared to carry out their design of attacking us front and rear. Skirmishing commenced early in the morning and as our columns advanced he fell back towards the bayou, when we soon discovered the position of their batteries on the bluff. There was then an artillery duel by the smaller pieces, and some sharp fighting by the cavalry, when the ‘mule battery,’ twenty pound Parrott guns opened a heavy fire, which soon dislodged them, forcing the chivalry to flee in a manner not at all suitable to their boasted courage. Before this one cavalry, the 3d Brigade of the 1st Div., and Birges’ brigade of the second, had crossed the bayou and were doing good service, which, with the other work, made the enemy show their heels. The 3d brigade done some daring deeds in this fight, as also did the cavalry. In one instance the 3d charged up a hill almost perpendicular, driving the enemy back by the bayonet without firing a gun. The woods on this bluff was so thick that the cavalry had to dismount and fight on foot. During the whole of the day, our brigade, the 2d, was supporting artillery, under fire all the time, and could not give Mr. Reb a return shot.

While we were fighting in front, Smith was engaged some miles in the rear, but he done his part well and drove them back. The rebel commanders thought by attacking us in the rear, and having a large face on the bluffs, they would be able to capture our train and take us all prisoners, but in this they were mistaken, for our march was so rapid that we were on them before they had thrown up the necessary earthworks. Besides they underrated the amount of our artillery, calculating from the number engaged at Pleasant Hill. The rebels say ‘it seems as though the Yankees manufacture, on short notice, artillery to order, and the men are furnished with wings when they wish to make a certain point.’

The damage done to the Confederate cause by the burning of cotton was immense. On the night of the 22d our route was lighted up for miles and millions of dollars worth of this production was destroyed. This loss will be felt more by Davis & Co., than several defeats in this region, for the basis of the loan in England was on the cotton in Louisiana.

After the rebels had fled from the bluff the negro troops put down the pontoons, and by ten that night we were six miles beyond the bayou safely encamped. The next morning we moved forward and in two days were in Alexandria. Johnnys followed Smith’s forces, keeping out of range of his guns, except when he had gained the eminence across the bayou, when he punished them (the rebs) severely.

Having finally reached Alexandria on 26 April, they learned they would remain at their latest new camp for at least two weeks. Placed temporarily under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey, they were assigned yet again to the hard labor of construction work, helping to erect “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that was designed to enable Union Navy gunboats to safely navigate the fluctuating waters of the Red River. According to Wharton:

We were at Alexandria seventeen days, during which time the men were kept busy at throwing up earthworks, foraging and three times went out some distance to meet the enemy, but they did not make their appearance in numbers large enough for an engagement. The water in the Red river had fallen so much that it prevented the gun boats from operating with us, and kept our transports from supplying the troops with rations, (and you know soldiers, like other people will eat), so Banks was compelled to relinquish his designs on Shreveport and fall back to the Mississippi. To do this a large dam had to be built on the falls at Alexandria to get the iron clads down the river. After a great deal of labor this was accomplished and by the morning of May 13th the last one was through the shute [sic, chute], when we bade adieu to Alexandria, marching through the town with banners flying and keeping step to the music of ‘Rally around the flag,’ and ‘When this cruel war is over.’ The next morning, at our camping place, the fleet of boats passed us, when we were informed that Alexandria had been destroyed by fire – the act of a dissatisfied citizen and several negroes. Incendiary acts were strictly forbidden in a general order before we left the place, and a cavalry guard was left in the rear to see the order enforced. After marching a few miles skirmishing commenced in front between the cavalry and the enemy in riflepits on the bank of the river, but they were easily driven away. When we came up we discovered their pits and places where there had been batteries planted. At this point the John Warren, an unarmed transport, on which were sick soldiers and women, was fired into and sunk, killing many and those that were not drowned taken prisoners. A tin-clad gun boat was destroyed at the same place, by which we lost a large mail. Many letters and directed envelopes were found on the bank – thrown there after the contents had been read by the unprincipled scoundrels. The inhumanity of Guerrilla bands in this department is beyond belief, and if one did not know the truth of it or saw some of their barbarities, he would write it down as the story of a ‘reliable gentleman’ or as told by an ‘intelligent contraband.’ Not satisfied with his murderous intent on unarmed transports he fires into the Hospital steamer Laurel Hill, with four hundred sick on board. This boat had the usual hospital signal floating fore and aft, yet, notwithstanding all this, and the customs of war, they fired on them, proving by this act that they are more hardened than the Indians on the frontier.

Continuing their march, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers headed toward Avoyelles Parish. According to Wharton:

On Sunday, May 15th, we left the river road and took a short route through the woods, saving considerable distance. The windings of the Red river are so numerous that it resembles the tape-worm railroad where with the politicians frightened the dear people during the administration of Ritner and Stevens. – We stopped several hours in the woods to leave cavalry pass, when we moved forward and by four o’clock emerged into a large open plain where we formed in line of battle, expecting a regular engagement. The enemy, however, retired, and we advanced ’till dark, when the forces halted for the night with orders to rest on their arms. – ‘Twas here that Banks rode through our regiment, amidst the cheers of the boys, and gave the pleasant news that Grant had defeated Lee.

“Resting on their arms,” (half-dozing, without pitching their tents, and with their rifles right beside them), they were now positioned just outside of Marksville, on the eve of the 16 May 1864 Battle of Mansura, which unfolded as follows, according to Wharton:

Early next morning we marched through Marksville into a prairie nine miles long and six wide where every preparation was made for a fight. The whole of our force was formed in line, in support of artillery in front, who commenced operations on the enemy driving him gradually from the prairie into the woods. As the enemy retreated before the heavy fire of our artillery, they reached Missoula [sic, Mansura], where they formed in column, taking the whole field in an attempt to flank the enemy, but their running qualities were so good that we were foiled. The maneuvring [sic, maneuvering] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic, were] one of the finest things of the war. The fight of artillery was a steady one of five miles. The enemy merely stood that they might cover the retreat of their infantry and train under cover of their artillery. Our loss was slight. Of the rebels we could not ascertain correctly, but learned from citizens who had secreted themselves during the fight, that they had many killed and wounded, who threw them into wagons, promiscuously, and drove them off so that we could not learn their casualties. The next day we moved to Simmsport [sic, Simmesport] on the Achafalaya [sic, Atchafalaya] river, where a bridge was made by putting the transports side by side, which enabled the troops and train to pass safely over. – The day before we crossed the rebels attacked Smith, thinking it was but the rear guard, in which they, the graybacks, were awfully cut up, and four hundred prisoners fell into our hands. Our loss in killed and wounded was ninety. This fight was the last one of the expedition. The whole of the force is safe on the Mississippi, gunboats, transports and trains. The 16th and 17th have gone to their old commands.

It is amusing to read the statements of correspondents to papers North, concerning our movements and the losses of the army. I have it from the best source that the Federal loss from Franklin to Mansfield, and from their [sic, there] to this point does not exceed thirty-five hundred in killed, wounded and missing, while that of the rebels is over eight thousand.

Continuing on, the surviving members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry marched for Simmesport and then Morganza, where they made camp again. While encamped there, the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the regiment in Beaufort, South Carolina (October 1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864.

The regiment then moved on and arrived in New Orleans in late June. On 4 July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received orders to return to the East Coast. Three days later, they began loading their men onto ships, a process that unfolded in two stages. Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I boarded the U.S. Steamer McClellan on 7 July and steamed away that day, while the members of Companies B, G and K remained behind, awaiting transport. They subsequently departed aboard the Blackstone, weighing anchor and sailing forth at the end of that month. Arriving in Virginia on 28 July, the second group reconnected with the first group at Monocacy, having missed out on the Battle of Cool Spring, the fight in which the first group had engaged at Snickers Gap, Virginia in mid-July.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Attached to the Middle Military Division, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah, beginning in early August 1864, and placed under the command of Union Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown, and also engaged over the next several weeks in a series of back-and-forth movements between Halltown, Berryville, Middletown, Charlestown, and Winchester as part of a “mimic war” being waged by Sheridan’s Union forces with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early.

The 47th Pennsylvania then engaged with Confederate forces in the Battle of Berryville, from 3-4 September. On 4 September, Private John M. Keim was discharged again on a surgeon’s certificate of disability – this time from Berryville, Virginia.

After returning home to Pennsylvania, John M. Keim resumed his life with wife, Narcissa, and their children.

1865 – 1866

Just over four months later, on 31 January 1865, John M. Keim’s son — Abraham Frederick Keim — re-enlisted again for military service, this time re-enrolling and mustering in at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a twenty-two-year-old Private with his father’s old company and regiment — Company D of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records at the time of his re-muster indicate that he had been born in Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania, and that he was employed as a clerk. These same records described him as being five feet, four inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a fair complexion.

The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had been stationed in Virginia since their participation in legendary Union General Philip H. Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. By the time that Private Abraham F. Keim joined up with his company and regiment, their fighting days — while not completely ended — had begun their transformation into what would end as peacekeeping and Rng homeeconstruction.

* Note: A letter about Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was reprinted in the New York Times on 30 April 1864, pointed to an interesting fact: By the spring of 1864, Company D’s roster had included multiple family groups — two Anthony, three Baltozer, four Brady, two Clay, two Charles, two Fertig, three Kosier, two Reynolds and two Vance brothers; three Harper brothers who were also brothers-in-law of the company captain (Captain Henry D. Woodruff); the Powells and Shaffers (five brothers and a cousin, and two brothers and a cousin, respectively); and the Tag/Taggs (a father and two sons). The father and son Keims, while not mentioned in this newspaper notice, were also part of D Company’s fascinating familial makeup.

Assigned in February 1865 to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah, the men of the 47th were moved, via Winchester and Kernstown, to Washington, D.C. where, on 19 April, they were responsible for helping to defend the nation’s capital following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Encamped near Fort Stevens, they were issued new uniforms and resupplied with ammunition.

Letters sent to family and friends back home during this time, and post-war newspaper interviews with veterans of the 47th Pennsylvania, indicate that at least one 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer was given the high honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while others may have guarded the key Lincoln assassination conspirators during the early days of their imprisonment and trial, which began on 9 May 1865. During this phase of duty, the regiment was headquartered at Camp Brightwood.

As part of Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania also participated in the Union’s Grand Review on 23 May.

On either 23 or 28 May 1865, Private Abraham F. Keim was again discharged, this time mustered out by General Orders, No. 77, issued on 28 April 1865 by the U.S. Office of the Adjutant General.

Return to Civilian Life — John F. Keim

After his honorable discharge from the military, John F. Keim returned home to Perry County, Pennsylvania where he continued to reside in Newport with his wife and children In 1870, John and Narcissa Keim lived there with son, Oliver (listed as “Otis” on this census), and daughter, Margaret.

By that year, John M. Keim and his son, Oliver/Otis, were engaged in a dry goods business, which suffered a transition on 11 June 1872 when Oliver/Otis passed away, and was interred at the Newport Cemetery in Newport, Perry County.

By 1880, John and Narcissa were still residing in Newport with daughter, Margaret. Another of their sons, Abraham or Zachary, had also joined the family. This was most likely Zachary since Abraham had married and begun his own family by this time. In 1880, John M. Keim was employed as a farmer while Zachary worked as a laborer.

On 16 January 1888, John widowed Narcissa, passing away in Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania. He was interred at the Newport Cemetery. Narcissa passed away 11 years later on 28 March 1899, and was also interred at the Newport Cemetery.

Return to Civilian Life — Abraham Frederick Keim

Following the close of the Civil War, John M. Keim’s son — Abraham Frederick Keim — who had enlisted with and honorably mustered out from John Keim’s old regiment, also returned home to Perry County. There, Abraham F. Keim and his wife, Julia Ann (Zeigler) Keim, welcomed to the world sons, Harry T. Keim (1870-1927) and Charles P. Keim (1877-1942).

On 16 January 1906, Abraham Frederick Keim passed away in Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania. He was interred at the Newport Cemetery in Newport, Perry County. His wife, Julia (Zeigler) Keim was also interred there after passing away in Newport on 29 September 1920.

 

Sources:

1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
2. Civil War Veterans’ Card File (“Keim, Abraham F.”, “Keim, John M.’ H-47 I” and “Keim, John; D-47 I”). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Pennsylvania Veteran’s Burial Index Card “Keim, John; Newport Cemetery, Newport, Perry County, Section C2, Lot 142, Grave 90; 47th Regt.,  Co. ‘D’, 11/27/1863-9/14/1864”). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Department of Veterans Affairs.
4. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
5. U.S. Census (1870, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
6. U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (Keim, Abraham F., application no.: 1050258, certificate no.: 468324, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran on 19 August 1891; application no.: 842843, certificate no.: 648610, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran’s widow, “Keim, Julia A.”, on 8 February 1906). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (veteran: “Keim, John; H, 47 Pa Inf”; widow: “Keim, Narcissa”; application no.: 140673, certificate no.: 172880, filed by the veteran on 10 March 1869; application no.: 369412, certificate no.: 246801, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran’s widow on 20 March 1888).