| If this website has been useful to you, please consider
making a Donation.
Your support will help keep this website free for everyone, and will allow us to do
more research. Thank you for your support! |
Civil War Soldiers - Kelley
| Kelley, Benjamin F.,
brigadier-general, U.S. Army, was born in New Hampton, N. H., April
10, 1807. He removed to West Virginia in 1826 and settled in Wheeling,
where he engaged in business until 1851, and then became freight agent
on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. In May, 1861, he raised the 1st
Virginia regiment for the national army, was commissioned its colonel,
and on June 3, 1861, won the battle of Phillippi, being severely
wounded. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, May 17,
1861, fought a successful battle at Romney, Oct. 22, 1861, was again
victorious at Blue's gap, and was then appointed to command the
Department of Harper's Ferry and Cumberland, but was relieved at his
own request, in Jan., 1862, on account of his wounds. In the following
summer he resumed command of the railroad district under Gen. Fremont,
and in July, 1863, was assigned to the Department of West Virginia. He
pursued Gen. Lee after his passage of the Potomac and dispersed the
Confederate camp under Gen. Imboden near Moorefield, Va., in Nov.,
1863. In 1864 he won the battles of Cumberland, Md., and New creek and
Moorefield, Va., and on March 13, 1865, he was brevetted major-general
for gallant and distinguished services during the war. He was
appointed collector of internal revenue for the 1st division of West
Virginia in 1866, was appointed, in 1876, superintendent of the Hot
Springs, Ark., reservation, and in 1883 received from President Arthur
appointment as examiner of pensions. Gen. Kelley died in Oakland, Md.,
July 16, 1891. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
|
|
Whats New
Bibliography
About Us |