George Washington Keifer

George Washington Keifer was born on August 31, 1833 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to John Keifer and his wife Sara Fay. George grew up near Pittsburgh and, at the time of his enlistment into the military stood between 5’6” and 5’8” tall with a fair complexion, black hair and brown eyes. Judging from pension records, he and family had a tough time making ends meet.

We know little of George’s life outside of his military service. The pension records provide some small glimpse into this world but the details are few and far between. George served with three different units, over three different enlistment periods, during the Civil War years. Although he served with the 13th Regiment and the 9th Veteran Volunteers it was the 102nd Regiment in which George served the longest time and participated in some of the famous battles of the American Civil War.

On May 10, 1855 George married Emma Gould in Mifflin Township, Pennsylvania. George was 21 years old and Emma was 20. The pension records show that George and Emma had a total of 7 children, 3 boys and 4 girls. They may have had a real appreciation for George Washington since their first two children were named George and Martha. At the time of George joined the Union Army, son George and daughter Martha were their only children.

George and Emma kept in close contact during the war years. Two diaries the family still have cover the full year of 1863 and up until September of 1864 when George was mustered out of service. George recorded in his diary sending no less than 118 letters home to Emma and she responded with at least 93 letters to George.

George marched all over Virginia and parts of Maryland. He records over 870 miles of marching during the 21 months covered by the diaries. There are 9 other entries in which George describes ‘marching all day’ or ‘marching all night’ but did not record the number of miles traveled. Taking into account that the troops tended to stay put in winter quarters from December to February it is safe to say that George did his fair share of marching during the warmer months within his tour of duty.

Pay for a Sergeant in 1863 was $17 per month. George recorded each time the company was mustered in for pay. By the end of the 1864 diary George had recorded payments covering September 1862 to June 1864. These payments amounted to just over $420 and include just over $40 for a clothing allowance. George sent much of the money home to Emma.

At the age of 27, on April 17, 1861, George was mustered into service with the 13th Regiment. He held the rank of 4th Corporal in Company A.

During most of the time frame covered by the diaries, George was a member of the VI Corps under the command of Major General John Sedgwick. George was mustered into service on August 16, 1861 as a member of the 102nd Regiment under the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division of the VI Corps. His unit, Company A, was one of 10 companies in the Regiment. George was promoted to Sergeant on August 12, 1862 just about a year since he began service with the 102nd. We know nothing of George’s personal experiences from August 1861 to December 1862 since no diary or letters from that time frame have been found.

The Mud March

The first action that we can link to George Keifer’s experience was his participation in what came to be known as Major General Burnside’s January ‘Mud March’.

After the Union defeat at Fredericksburg in December of 1862 both armies had set up their camps for the winter. US Major General Ambrose Burnside, not a well liked leader, pulled the troops out of their camps in January 1863. The weather, combined with the failure of this exercise, became known as the “Mud March”. It contributed to his replacement by US Major General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker.

Here are George Keifer’s related diary entries (sic):

01/20/1863 Left our camp near Falmouth at 12 am and went about 9 miles towards the right of the army and stayed in the woods all night. Rained all night.

Stayed at night 7pm 01/21/1863 Left the woods at daylight and went about 3 miles through rain and mud. Stayed along side of the road for about 2 hours and then went to the woods. Pontoons in mud.

01/22/1863 Stayed all day in the field. Raining almost all day. Kept up big fires of oak about 20 of us together.

01/23/1863 Got up at 4am to go back to our old camp about 6 miles. Got there at 12am. Roads very muddy.

George marched 18 miles in the rain and mud over four days only to end up where they had begun. Our family is working to document his other diary entries and may be able to share more in the future as our research continues.

George died on October 15th, 1906. He is buried at the family plot (section 9, lot 285) in Homewood Cemetery, (1599 S. Dallas Ave., Pittsburgh Pa. 15217)

George Washington Keifer’s gravesite in Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh Pa

Bryan Keifer and Tom Keifer, Great Great Grandsons of George Washington Keifer

Pittsburgh September 18^th, 1864

Dear Brother John

I received your kind and welcome letter a few day ago and was glad to hear that you was still on the land of the living yet and that you are well as this leaves me and all the rest of the folks. Well as far as I know, it will be a week tomorrow since I came home and we ain’t paid off yet. But our rolls has come on and I guess we will get paid off tomorrow. As for my photograph I will send you on in my next letter. I tell it does pretty nice to be a citizen once more after the way that we have been fighting and marching all over Virginia. Virginia is pretty well used up awhile. Before I left the army General Sheridan command went up the Shenandoah Valley as far as Strasburg 50 miles from Harpers Ferry. When we came back we burnt all the grain that was in the counties, drove all off all the horses carried sheep and chickens back. We made a clean sweep of the valley. I have been a working for Frazier this last week. Andy is a working for him also. Emma will write you a letter in a few days. So no more at present but still remain you loving brother until death.

George W. Keifer

Write soon again

Rec’d October 6^th

Ansd home 1864

Spelling corrected T.K.

This information has been generously provided by the Great great grandsons of George W. Keifer, Thomas M. Keifer & Bryan Keifer