Hayes J. Keepers[1]
Rank: Private, Company I, 12th
Wisconsin Infantry
Born/died: August 24, 1845 - May 16, 1913
Cause of death: Chronic
bronchitis and heart disease
Residence at death:
Excelsior, Wisconsin
Served: December 14, 1861 –
July 16, 1865
Age at enlistment: 16
Claim filed: April 12, 1888
Remarks:
Hayes gave his physical
description in January 1902 as 5’ 9 ½” tall, 140 lbs., blue eyes, brown hair
and a light complexion. He had a
permanent mark in “the form of a girl holding to our flag tattooed on left arm
underneath my initials, HJK.” Thomas H.
and Jane Milbourn witnessed the document.
Boaz, Richland County, Wisconsin, was his home at the time of enlistment. [The original family farm is just across the
bridge going west out of Boaz, heading away from Richland Center.][2] His residence was in or near Richland
County, Wisconsin, until 1880. He then
moved to Boone County, Nebraska, and left the year of 1894. He had been “unsettled since.” His occupation was “working by the month on
a farm.”
Hayes enlisted at Madison,
Wisconsin, along with his father, Lewis Mifflin Keepers. They both reenlisted at Natchez,
Mississippi, in January 1864. “Lewis
and Hayes were together throughout the war until Lewis' death in [August]1864.
Hayes was actually knocked down by the same shell burst that mortally wounded
his father.”[3] [The explosion occurred on July 21, 1864.] His
brother, James McMillen Keepers, “did not enter the service, until January
1864, enlisting in Company B, 25th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry. He
transferred to Company I, 12th Wisconsin on June 2,1865. The 12th and 25th
Wisconsin regiments were often in action in the same battles and
skirmishes.”[4] [Merle C. Keepers has compiled extensive
notes on the movements of the companies during the war. James was Merle’s grandfather.]
Six months after his
discharge, Hayes married Abiah C. Milbourn.
She died in 1892. They had a
daughter, Electa, who died about 1890 in Nebraska. Hayes wrote in January 1902 that he was childless: “My daughter
is also dead. I am entirely homeless by
the deaths of my entire family.” He
married again in 1903 to Emma R. McCormack, nee Lewis. They had one daughter,
Genevieve, born in 1910. Emma filed for a renewal of [Hayes’] pension, August
29, 1914, but was denied because she was “not a wife of soldier during period
of service.” [She was allowed a pension
based on the service of her previous husband, John M. McCormack, Private,
Company F, 33rd Wisconsin Infantry.] A. E. Faulknor, age 38, and Bertie M. Faulknor, age 36, attested
to the marriage of Emma and her background. Their affidavit was taken in
Stanley, Chippewa County, Wisconsin in November 1913.
In 1888 Hayes’ claimed that
his lung disease was the result of measles contracted during the war. His claim
was rejected because there was “no disability from the cause alleged
shown.” A Surgeon’s Certificate,
January 29, 1900, from Des Moines, Iowa, repeats Hayes’ general physical
description, including his tattoo. His
pulse rate was high: sitting, 102;
standing, 112; after exercise, 136. His main problem was rheumatism: “Complains
of pains more or less extending over the whole body, more especially, however
in the back and hips. There is crepitus
in both hips, and the applicant gives all the subjective symptoms of lumbago.”
Liver and kidneys were normal, but under disease of the head: “The applicant
states that in battle on the 21st day of July 1864 he was injured by
a shell, which leaves a scar under his chin of no significance; that on the
same day he was sun struck in a mild degree.”
The record shows that Hayes received $19/mo. until April 14, 1913. He died May 16, 1913. Dr. E. E. Haggerty, Excelsior, Richland
County, Wisconsin, stated the “main cause of death was chronic bronchitis;
[Hayes’] difficulty breathing and exertion from coughing caused a dilation of
his heart, which was the secondary cause of death.” On April 13, 1913, his neighbors signed a request to the pension
office that “ you act quickly upon the … increase in pension. He is an invalid now and will not live long
and needs it badly and is now using county money for part existence. We are close neighbors and know this to be
true.” Signatures include: Mrs. Ross Brown, E. Haskins, W.A. Harvey, W.
S. Harvey, David Wilson, Charles Moran, D. P. Craig, J. W. Ankerson, and Robert
Dilley. Two other last names were
illegible. On February 2, 1914, county
judge W.S. McCorkle requested pension support for Emma; she was “not yet able
to pay for her husband’s casket.”
During the war, Hayes was
treated at Weston Missouri for about five weeks. His captain, Van S. Bennett, described the onset of Hayes’
disability. Captain Bennett wrote,
October 7, 1913, in support of Emma’s claim:
“While engaged in service, … Hayes… had the measles late in January or
early in February, 1862 while our command was at Weston, Missouri. He suffered a good deal from the effects
during the remainder of his term of service.
While he did not have bronchitis before he had the measles, he developed
bronchitis after having the measles and has been afflicted with bronchitis ever
since. I was in immediate command of
said company from January 1862 till November 1864, during which time he served
in the company. Whenever I have met him
since his discharge, he has frequently, possibly invariably, complained of
trouble with his bronchial tubes. Every
surgeon of said 12th regiment is now dead, except one and he was not
commissioned till July 1864.” Captain
Bennett lived near Hayes during the years Hayes was in Wisconsin.