Harvey enlisted in the US Army on April 23, 1864 into the US Army for a period of 3 years,
was discharged till April 23, 1870. Serving as the rank of Pvt in Co. I
13th Reg. US Infantry at the end of his enlistment.His enlistment is noted in Register of Enlistment of US ARMY.
He states he was born in Union Co., IN and was a farmer. He had blue eyes and light hair
and about 5' 7" in height.
He was discharged at Ft. Shaw, MT.Fort Shaw was established in the spring of 1867 located west of Great Falls in the Sun River Valley. Two posts built at the time were Camp Cooke on the Judith River and Fort C.F. Smith on the Bozeman Trail in south central Montana Territory. Fort Shaw was built of adobe and lumber by the 13th Infantry. The fort had a parade ground that was 400 feet (120 m) square, and consisted of barracks for officers, a hospital, and a trading post, and could house up to 450 soldiers. The soldiers mainly guarded the Benton-Helena Road, the major supply-line from Fort Benton, which was the head of navigation on the Missouri River, to the gold mining districts in southwestern Montana Territory. The fort was decommissioned in 1891 and in 1892 the 20 buildings on the site became Fort Shaw Indian Industrial School. The school boarded young Indians to Americanize them and educate them in modern technology; it had as many as 17 faculty members, 11 Indian assistants, and 300 students.
Established in 1867 as Camp Reynolds by Major William Clinton and four companies of the 13th U.S. Infantry. Renamed Fort Shaw 1 Aug 1867 after Colonel Robert G. Shaw, 54th Massachusetts Infantry, who was killed before Fort Wagner SC in 1863 during the U.S. Civil War. Abandoned in 1891.
Fort Shaw began existence as Camp Reynolds, an Army post built by the 13th US Infantry on the Sun River about 24 miles west of Great Falls in 1867. Shortly after completion, the name was changed to Fort Shaw in honor of Colonel Robert Shaw of Civil War fame. To the east were the Plains Indians and the great buffalo range. To the south and west were Montana's mining camps and earliest settlements. To the north was Blackfeet country. The site is on the old Mullan Road, a route which saw lots of emigrant settlers and fortune-hunting miners passing through and getting raided by Blackfeet Indians. The Mullan Road (which stretched from Fort Benton, Montana and Fort Walla Walla Washington) was also traveled by stagecoaches and freight companies going between Fort Benton (head of navigation on the Missouri River) and the Last Chance Gulch placer mines near Helena.
It was from Fort Shaw that General Gibbon rode out with the Seventh Infantry one fateful day in 1876, ordered to join up with General Perry and General George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at the Yellowstone River. Troops from Fort Shaw also took part in the "Battle of the Big Hole" against the Nez Perce in 1877.
In the 1880's, Fort Shaw was known for its social scene, and as the site of Montana's first professional stage performance. The Army abandoned the site in 1890 but the buildings later served as an Indian school. When the Great Northern Railway built a spur line between Vaughn and Augusta, the settlement's fortunes were revived.
He filed for a pension on Nov. 3, 1897. Record states he died April 27, 1907
near Mountain Fork, AR about eleven miles west of Mena, AR.
Will had six children that Larua cared for.
Son of Harrison Keffer and Phebe Huddleston.
Served in Civil Ward as Brevet Major and Colonel.