| From the Winchester Evening Star
(Winchester, Va.) |
| |
| September 15, 1922 |
| |
| Chas. B. Keeler Passes Away at Advanced Age |
| Too Young to Serve in Army, But He and
Father Made Wagons At Stephenson For Confederates |
| Charles B. Keeler, retired
Fredericksburg county farmer, died at 10 o'clock this morning at the
home of his son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Keeler, on
the Northwestern grade, after three months' illness of thrombosis. He
was 76 years of age. |
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| Made Wagons For Confederate Army |
| Mr. Keeler was a mere boy when
the civil war broke out, and he was so intent on joining the Confederate
Army and going to the front that, in spite of his youth, he managed to
enlist. His commander admired the pluck and loyalty of the youthful
soldier, but decided Mr. Keeler was too young for the kind of military
service the Confederate forces was about to undertake, and after a brief
period he was detailed to work with his father. |
| The elder Keeler was
extensively engaged at Stephenson in the manufacture of wagons and
farming implements. The army needed wagons and the father and son,
together with other help, spent most of their time making army wagons
and similar equipment. |
| When "Stonewall" Jackson's
army "commandeered" Baltimore & Ohio Railroad engines at Martinsburg and
undertook to haul them with horses to the Valley of Virginia over the
Martinsburg pike it was found necessary to manufacture unusually heavy
and strong traces and tongues, and this work was done at the Keeler shop
in Stephenson. Thus equipped, the engines were hauled well within the
Confederate lines, and were made good use of on Virginia railroads. |
| ***** |