J. Warren Keifer

As printed in 1902

GEN. J. WARREN KEIFER.

occurred April

Well may Clark county be proud to call this naan her son. another home.

He has never known He was born on Mad river, in this county, January 30, 1836, and while his interests, public and private, have sometimes called him elsewhere he has always maintained his deep affection for this locality and its people and the tie has been strengthened with the passing years. His parents were Joseph and Mary (Smith) Keifer. The father was born at. Sharpsburg, Maryland, December 28, 1784, and the vear 1812 witnessed his arrival in Clark county, Ohio. He was a farmer and civil engineer and in this pioneer district he followed his dual occupation, taking an active part in reclaiming the wild land for the uses of the white man. He bore an active and helpful part in the work of early improvement and progress here and continued a

-resident of the county until his death, which

3, 1850. His wife was born in what is now Cincinnati (Columbia), Ohio, January 31, 1799, and died at Yellow Springs, this state, March 23, 1879. She was of English lineage and about 1790 her ancestors removed from New Jersey to what was then the Northwest Territory.

The boyhood of Joseph Warren Keifer was not unlike that of most boys of the period. At the usual age he entered the public schools and later continued his studies in Antioch College. In the meantime he had acquainted himself to a considerable extent with American history and especially that of his own locality for he lived amid historic localities. Here were many famous Indian battle-fields; on a neighboring farm (in a Piqua Indian village) was born the Indian chieftain, Tecumseh. Mr. Keifer, as a boy, found great delight in wandering among these places and picking up information concerning their early struggles, which established the supremacy of the white race as masters of the district. As he advanced in years he continually broadened his knowledge by reading and investigation, and from an early age kept in view his purpose of one day becoming a member of the bar. In 1853 he taught a term of country school which was his first regular employment, aside from duties of the home farm. While assisting in the labors of field and meadow he devoted his leisure hours through three years to reading law, and in 1856 took an advanced step in the line of his-ambition to become a member of the bar hy entering the office of the law firm of Anthony € Goode, of Springfield, there remaining as a student until his admission to the bar, January 12, 1858.

For forty-four years General Keifer has been a member of the Springfield bar. His was the usual experience of the young lawrich ver who begins practice at a bar where are many older and more experienced whose reputations have already been established and whose cleintage is assured, but he possessed persistency of purpose, laudable ambition and strong mentality, and gradually he worked his way upward, proving his power to successfully cope with the intricate problems of jurisprudence. Early in his professional career his labors were interrupted by military service for the country became involved in Civil war. He had kept informed concerning the growth. of sentiment and the progress of events in the south, and his love of liberty and his devotion to his country increased as oppression and rebellion were more strongly manifest below the Mason and Dixon line. The echo from Sumter’s guns went sounding and resounding throughout the land and

General Keifer was among the first to offer his services to the government, enlisting on the roth of April, 1861. A contemporary biographer has written of his military history as follows: “He was commissioned major of the Third Ohio Infantry, April 27, 1861, for three months, and June 12, 1861, for three years. He took part in the battle of Rich Mountain July 11, 1861, the first of the war; the same year he participated in engagements in Cheat Mountain and Elk Water, West Virginia; in November his regiment was attached to General Buell's army; February 12, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of his regiment and was present at the capture of Bowling Green, Nashville, Tennessee; and Huntsville and Bridgeport, Alabama. April 30, 1862, he led the first expedition into Georgia and performed an important service in the destruction of the salt-peter works at Nickajack. cave. He returned to Louisville with General Buell's command; was made colonel of the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, September 30, 1862; was assigned to General Milroy’s division in West Virginia, and placed in command of a brigade and the post at Moorefield; was in the battle of Winchester, Virginia, June 1863, where he was twice wounded; July 9, 1863, he was assigned to the army of the Potomac in the Third Army Corps in pursuit of General Lee's army, and took part in engagements at Wapping Heights July 23, 1863; in August, 1863, he was sent with his command to aid in the suppression of the draft riots and in enforcing the draft in New York city and Brooklyn; rejoined the army in the field in September and bore a prominent part in the battle of Mine Run, November 27, 1863, and in other minor en-

Kentucky;

gagements; March 24, 1864, he was transferred to the Sixth Army Corps and at the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, was wounded by a musket ball which shattered both bones of his left forearm, disabling him until August 26, when he resumed command of his brigade, at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, bemg the Second Brigade, Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, and with his arm still in a sling commanded his troops in the hardfought battles of Opequon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley; at Opequon he was wounded by a shell, his horse being shot under him; at. Fisher’s Hill he, with out orders, led his brigade in the assault on the fortified left frank of the enemy and captured many prisoners and guns: at Cedar Creek he commanded the Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, and for his distinguished gallantry and the energy and discretion there evinced was brevetted by President Lincoln a brigadiergeneral and by him assigned to duty with that rank. In December, 1864, with his corps he rejoined the army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg and was actively engaged on the left of the fortified line; March: 25, 1865, he led a successful assault upon the enemy’s outer line of works and was complimented in general orders; April 2, he charged with his division in the final assault which carried the main works and resulted in the capture of Petersburg and Richmond; April 5, his command aided in cutting off the retreat of Lee’s army and forced it to give battle on the 6th at Sailor’s Creek; the wings of the army (General Keifer commanding the left) being forced forward (notwithstanding the fact that the enemy had broken the center line), surrounded and effected the capture of above six thousand of the enemy, including Generals Ewell, f E $

Kershaw, Custis Lee, Barton, Corse, Hunton and other officers of high rank.

One of the incidents of the war, thrill.

ing and full of adventure and showing the true spirit of military heroism and presence of mind, is worthy of representation here. Immediately succeeding the surrender of the six thousand Confederates, and while assisting in the re-formation of the troops, information reached General Keifer that a body of the enemy was concealed in a wood on his right. He rode in person into the woods to reconnoiter and came suddenly upon the Confederate troops lying on the ground, evidently ignorant of the surrender which had just taken place. The density of the wood, approaching night and the smoke ot the battle saved the General from instant identification as a Union officer. To attempt to withdraw was instant death, and sur-

-render never entered his mind. Seeing that the troops were awaiting and expecting a command he rode forward and wheeling his horse shouted, “Forward!” and led the enemy as his own troops, having his sword toward the recent scene of battle. The command was instantly obeyed and the faster he rode the faster the enemy followed after, until the edge of the wood and the.

better light led to the discovery of his identity, when he was the mark for many muskets, and would have been shot but for the command of the Confederate officers, who prevented their men from delivering their fire. General Keifer escaped to his own troops and leading them in a charge upon the enemy secured the surrender of the entire brigade of Confederates, which was composed of marines little used to land service, commanded by Commodore J. R.

Tucker and Captain John D. Semmes.

Tucker and Semmes both claimed to have saved General Keifer's life by preventing their troops from firing upon him and as an act of gratitude he used his influence to obtain the parole from Johnson's Island of these officers, who, having deserted from the United States Navy, were not entitled, under then existing orders, to that clemency.

“General Keifer joined in the pursuit and capture of General Lee’s army, and was brevetted major-general ‘for gallant and distinguished service during the campaign ending in the surrender of the insurgent commander, General R E. Lee.’ His corps was sent south to aid in the capture of General Joe Johnston's army in North Carolina, and learning at Danville of the contemplated surrender, he, with a portion of his staff, pushed across the country fifty miles to witness it. He was thus present at the capitulation of both General Lee’s and Johnston's armies.

“A career beginning in April, 1861, and closing June 27, 1865, when he retired from the army to resume the practice of law at Springfield, briefly outlined, has but few parallels; without military education or experience, without influence or wealth, merit and distinguished ability earned the highest rank in the service. For over four years he was, except when disabled from wounds, in active service in the field and at the front. His purpose in entering the army—the preservation of the Union—was accomplished, his life works in arts of peace was before him and upon it he entered with the same energy and enthusiasm that had made his military career so glorious. His return to civil life was followed by success at the bar, where he soon acquired an extensive practice. In 1866, he was tendered a commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-

As printed in A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.