Penuell McClure Keepers[1]
Rank: Lieutenant, Company C,
38th Indiana Infantry
Born/died: 1845 – July 1, 1911
Cause of death: Heart
disease
Residence at death: In 1906:
510 W. 21st Street, Anderson, Indiana
Served: September 18, 1861 –
July 15, 1865
Age at enlistment: 18
Claim filed: Abt. November, 1885
Remarks:
A pension claim appears to have been initiated in 1885. An affidavit in support of the
"Original Invalid Pension Claim" of Penuell M. Keepers was filed on
October 18, 1898, in Scott Co., Ind., by John Brinton, age 59 yrs., from
Blocher, Scott Co., Ind., and a Private in Co. C, 38 Regiment of Ind.
Volunteers. John Brinton stated,
“Penuell M. Keepers, while in the line of duty, near "Kenasau
Mountain" in Georgia on or about June 21 or 22, 1864, became disabled in
the following manner, viz.: ‘By lying in the entrencements or diches he
contracted rheumatism it seamed to be general all over the system in his knees
and back and shoulders and I further state that I was with said claiment from
Atlanta to the sea and on acct of him not being able to walk was detailed as
company forager and provided with a mule so he could ride. I was with the claiment and was with the
command all the time.’” Witnessed by
Marshall E. Lloyd and Otto Jo Blocher.
Notarized by Jesse E. Blocher. There were also affidavits from Mr.
Columba and Mr. Hennessy, Kingfisher County, OK, who had known Penuell M.
Keepers as a neighbor since the opening of Oklahoma. Penuell was discharged at Rossville, Georgia on December 19,
1863, and re-enrolled as a “veteran volunteer” on December 20, 1863.
In the pension file, Penuell
"alleges that about January 10, 1863, at Murfreesboro, Tenn., while
guarding a wagon train from Murfreesboro to Nashville, Tenn., his left foot was
crushed by a wagon running over it." "Since leaving service has
resided in Butler County, Kansas, as a farmer, but was a
schoolteacher." He also declared
himself: "free from all kinds of vicious habits." The file also contains the dates for his
marriage to Melvina Clark, and the births of their three children.
In the surgeon’s reports,
Penuell is described as 5’ 7” tall, blue eyes, light complexion, and weighed
about162 lbs. He had a light mole on
[his] right ear and left cheek.
After the death of Penuell in
1911, Mrs. Mary A. Stowe, Franklin, Ind., made claim for medical services
"for my father, Penuell M. Keepers."
She states that Penuell had "rheumatism, disease of the heart and
stomach, injury to his left clavicle, and an injury to his left foot that occurred
at the Battle of Stony River on January 10, 1863."