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- BG Samuel Howell Kelsey was born on a farm in Rush County, Ind., March 14, 1844, and was there reared and educated in the rudimentary branches. He matriculated at the State University at Bloomington, Ind., but the war coming on caused the student to desert his books for the battlefield, for in August 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company I, 84th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served with this command until the cessation of hostilities.
He saw arduous service and participated in many of the fiercest battles of the Western armies, including Thompkin’s Station, Franklin (1863), Triune, Guy’s Gap, Shelbyville, War Trace, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Franklin (1864) and Nashville. He was severely wounded on Sunday afternoon at Chickamauga, and during his convalescence was on detached duty at Nashville, Tenn., in charge of the commissary and quartermaster stores of the refugee barracks, which was under the control of Gov. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.
In 1865, he was commissioned as assistant quartermaster in the United States Army, but was never mustered into the service, preferring to return to his home in Rush County, Ind. There, he attended Knightstown Academy for a nine months commercial course, and for the next year engaged in teaching in Henry County, Ind. In the spring of 1868 he was appointed steward and quartermaster of the Soldiers’ Home at Knightstown, which position he occupied until the fall of 1869, when he resign and removed to Leavenworth, Kan.
For a year he was engaged as a bookkeeper and then opened a large furniture and carpet business in Atchison. He prospered in this undertaking until 1893, when becoming imbued with the Oklahoma fever he sold out his business and sought the new Eldorado. He remained in Oklahoma for two years and took a prominent stand in the affairs of that remarkable territory. Kelsey then engaged as a traveling furniture salesman, following this occupation successfully until 1898, when he purchased an old line insurance agency at Atchison.
He was very popular in his home city, having served as mayor of Atchison from 1885 to 1889 and was a member of the city council and the school board. He was a leading Republican and high in the councils of that party. He was delegate to the national convention at Minneapolis in 1892 and attended many State and congressional conventions. He served on the State central committee and was the Chairman of the Atchison County Central Committee.
Kelsey was a prominent secret order man, being a Royal Arch Mason; a grand Patriarch of the Odd Fellows, having represented Kansas in the sovereign Grand Lodge from 1879 to 1891; a chancellor commander and a brigadier general of the Uniform Rank of Knights of Pythisa. He was also commander of John A. Martin post, No. 93, Grand Army of the Republic, of Atchison.
He was appointed Adjutant General by Governor Bailey.
Taken from The Province and the States: A History of the Province of Louisiana Under France and Spain, and of the Territories and States of the United States Formed Therefrom, Volume VII, page 330-331, printed in 1904.
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