Elnathan Keeler and the Civil War

Nathan L. Keeler was born in Walton, New York after his father, William C. Keeler, came home from the War with Britain in 1814. Nathan lived near his father for many years , and sometimes they shared property. The Minden County census of 1845 shows that they had 70 acres together with both of their wives, several children, 6 yards of wool cloth, 10 yards of linen, 3 acres of peas, 0.5 acres of buckwheat, 1.5 acres of potatoes, 25 acres of corn, 100 pounds of oats, 9 cows, 250 pounds of butter, 2 horses, 29 sheep, 50 pounds of wool, and 12 hogs. Besides farming, Nathan worked as a lock tender on the Erie canal, which was completed in 1825.

In 1850, when Nathan was 36 and his father William was 56, the very large family (Nathan and his wife Jane had 5 children, ages 1 though 14, and William and his wife Trephena had two older sons living with them) was living on a island between the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal, just north of the town of Mindenville. In 1856, some of their land was claimed for an enlargement of the canal.

The following text was taken from a book* written by one of my cousins, Helen Klass, and dedicated to my mother, Joan Keeler, about our common ancestor, Nathan L. Keeler (shown, in his uniform, above):

Nathan L. Keeler or Elnathan, Nate, or Nat as he variously called himself, was recruited into the Union Army at Mindenville, Town of Minden, Montgomery County, New York, on December 18, 1863. He and several of his friends and neighbors traveled to Schenectady where they were mustered into the 16th Regiment, Heavy Artillery, New York. From Schenectady they went to the fair grounds at Elmira where they assembled with other members of the 16th to await joining their regiment, which was serving with the Army of the James on the coast of Virginia.

Early in the war many men rushed to volunteer, anxious to aid the Union, and flushed with war fever, but by 1863 the desire to serve had lessened.

In the letters of Elnathan which follow, it is unclear what motivated him to join the army. He repeatedly writes to his wife Jane, that he is happily anticipating being rejected for service, and sent home. His Volunteer Enlistment Paper states his age at 43; he was two years under the maximum age of eligibility to be drafted or to volunteer.

Money may have played a part in his decision, although $13.00 per month was not a princely sum, the $500.00 Elnathan received as bounty was a considerable nest egg for a working man. It is possible that he was out of work or considered the army an opportunity to make more money than he was already earning.

Beginning in 1857 there had been a depression in the United States which lasted until 1863, if not longer, and it was coupled in the war years with rampant inflation, brought about by the war itself. Many considered military service desirable, permanent employment.

In March 1863 the Federal Government passed a draft law and thereafter most men felt that volunteering was the best way to serve. "To avoid the stigma of forced service plus the desire to obtain certain privileges allowed only volunteers, such as bounties and choice of unit, thousands enlisted" (Wiley, The Common Soldier in the Civil War: The Life of Billy Yank, p. 38)

Men who were drafted could pay someone to serve in their place, but it is highly unlikely that Elnathan had the wherewithal to do that. Therefore, it remains inconclusive why Elnathan volunteered.

Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in 1862, and soldiers who had rallied to the Federal cause became increasingly confounded by the direction the war was taking. One soldier wrote home, "'Lincoln's proclamation ... meets with denouncement among the men of the Army ... They do not wish to think that they are fighting for Negroes, but to put down the Rebellion."

The Abolitionists were, among themselves, not sure how to solve the Negro problem, although they were as a group opposed to slavery, the peculiar institution. And although many Northerners and a few Southerners were sympathetic to the plight of blacks, due to a heightened awareness fostered by the Abolitionists' rhetoric and such books as Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Sowe they were not ready to dispel racial prejudice from their hearts.

Elnathan wrote to Jane several times that he was fighting a "nigger war" and he was not alone in his assessment. Some fought to free the slaves, but a polling of the rank and file through their letters and diaries indicates that those whose primary object was the liberation of the Negroes comprised only a small part of the fighting forces.

Elnathan arrived in Yorktown, Virginia. February 16, 1864, to join his regiment. He began to experience the full effect of working for "Uncle Sam" as he called it.

All through the spring and summer of 1864 thousands of troops converged and fought in Eastern Virginia under the direction of General Grant and his commanders in the effort to capture the capitol of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Important in the taking of Richmond was the city of Petersburg, which was a supply depot, rail center, and arsenal for the Confederate Armies.

"In the Trenches before Petersburg" headed innumerable letters written during the last months of the war by Grant's soldiers. The contents told of watching the fiery trails of mortar shells on their arched flights through the air, the calling of shots, the scampering to bombproof shelters, the ever-present menace by day of the sharpshooters' bullets and the stifling heat of the trenches on summer nights.

Photo of the Petersburg Siege, photographer unknown, part of the National Archives.

On September 10, 1864, before Petersburg, Elnathan knowing that death was ever present, was shot in the left arm while on a picket. (An advance outpost or guard for a large force was called a picket. Ordered to form a scattered line far in advance of the main army's encampment, but within supporting distance, a picket guard was made up of a lieutenant, 2 sergeants, 4 corporals, and 40 privates from each regiment. Picket duty constituted the most hazardous work of infantrymen in the field. Being the first to feel any major enemy movement, they were also the first liable to be killed, wounded, or captured. And he most likely targets of snipers. Picket duty, by regulation, was rotated regularly in a regiment. via) Elnathan was subsequently removed to Hampton Hospital, Fort Monroe, Virginia; his spirits were at a very low ebb, and he longed for a boat to take him North and home to his family.

Several months later he was sent to Grant's General Hospital at Willets Point, New York, for a short time; and then for the final phase of his recuperation to Ira Harris, United States Army Hospital, at Albany, New York. There he became a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Veteran Reserve Corp. He went home on furlough more than once during that period, returning to the hospital to do nursing duty as part of the V.R.C. He was not discharged until August 18, 1865, on the same day that those of his regiment still on active duty were discharged at Washington, D.C.

Elnathan and his wife, Jane, carried on a lively, familial correspondence throughout his enlistment period. Like all soldiers, he was anxious for all the "particulars" from home, and especially for photographs of his family.

Although Jane's letters were readable, she apparently felt insecure about her letter writing abilities. Many times her sister, Sylvia Real, or a neighbor, Sylvester Van Antwerp, wrote for her, adding post scripts of their own. Sylvia was anxious for news of her husband who served in the same regiment with Elnathan, and Sylvester wanted a watch that he hoped Elnathan would secure for him. Elnathan urged Jane to ask her daughter-in-law, Ruth Ballard, and a local woman, Mrs. Youron, to do letter writing duty, too.

Jane assured Elnathan that she was capable of reading his letters, which seemed to squelch his fears about writing very personal or "smutty" remarks as he called them. Elnathan and Jane frequently talked about a pine tree, giving the impression that it had been a trysting place of theirs. Jane wrote to Elnathan telling him that her mother remembered the "old pine tree" and Elnathan told Jane that she could tell her son, Jacob Ballard, about it if she so desired. (Four miles south of Fort Plain, in the town of Minden, in an area of ancient fortifications built prior to the advent of the Indians, stands a gigantic pine, six feet in diameter - perhaps the pine tree remembered by Elnathan.)

Elnathan received and sent letters to a home town woman named Miss or Mrs. Wager, and Jane objected vehemently, there are several letters back and forth regarding this triangle of sorts.

Apart from writing letters, Jane had the responsibility for supplying Elnathan with a series of boxes containing food and clothing. From all reports the Union Army was well provisioned, but Elnathan claimed that without the box he would have starved to death on several occasions. A liquor ration was coming to the soldiers, but Elnathan badgered Jane for bottles of rum in his boxes. Suspecting that the boxes which came to the hospital were opened and the rum removed, he devised a scheme whereby Jane would bury the bottles of rum in a pail of butter, to assure their safe arrival.

Perhaps because soldiers' pay was not distributed sometimes for months, Jane and Elnathan were continually short of money. She talked about going to work in the hops fields, the dried cones of the hops plant were used in the making. beer, but Elnathan was worried that it would hurt her health, and cautioned her against it. They discussed money often and passionately.

Elnathan, Jane, their daughter Valeria, and son Levi, lived on an island between the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal at the outset of the Civil War. The Federal Census of 1850 lists Elnathan's occupation as being a "lock tender", but he did not want to return to the canal site when he came home from the war, perhaps due to his wound. which left him incapacitated.

Other than war news, discussions about the people in the Mindenville area, and what was happening at home, Elnathan and Jane corresponded mainly about their children. Jane's son, Jacob Ballard, perhaps by a former marriage, was himself married at the time of the Civil War, and his wife Ruth and their children went to live with Jane and Levi while Jacob served in the army.

Their daughter, Mary Jane, was married to Moses Finehout and he seemed to have mistreated her, and did not provide for her or their children. He was ultimately drafted or volunteered to serve in the army.

Their daughter, Nancy, was married to a Mr. Reece and from the letters it would appear that Nancy, her husband, and their children were more comfortable financially than the rest of the family.

Valeria, called Val or Vally, worked for George Cronk during the time Elnathan was in the army. Jane wrote to Elnathan expressing distress that Johnny DeForest of St. Johnsville had fallen in love with Val, who was married to John Keville in 1893, but he may not have been her only husband.

Levi Keeler, their only living son, was about ten years old at the time of the war, and he seems to have been "the man of the house" while his father was away. Elnathan was very concerned with Levi's schooling and his jobs, carrying the mail and working on the Erie Canal. (Image at right is Nathan, Levi and Jane in 1860, when Levi was about 6 years old, and before Nathan enlisted in the Army.)

In the late 1800's the 16th Regiment, Heavy Artillery, New York held a two day reunion at Dolgeville, Herkimer County, New York, but Elnathan did not survive to attend. He died on November 14, 1873 from the effects of his war wound and the diseases he contracted while serving his country. His burial place is unknown at this time.

*From the book, "Portrait of Elnathan Keeler, A Union Soldier" - an annotated collection of letters to and from Nathan L. Keeler, written during his service in the Civil War.