PVT
Benjamin Dekalb Kelley
(December
16, 1843 - September 12, 1926)
Photograph circa 1862
Hubbard's Company of Alabama
Rangers, 1861
Company K, 1st Confederate
Cavalry Regiment, 1861-1862
Company K, 4th Alabama Cavalry
(Roddey's) Regiment, 1862-1865
Benjamin Dekalb Kelley was the seventh child and sixth son of John and
Martha Ann Kelley. He was born December 16, 1843, at Traveller's Rest,
Coosa County, Alabama. At age 10, Ben and his family moved to Eldridge,
Walker County, Alabama, and it was here that he spent his adolescent years
helping with the family run legal distillery, mercantile business, tannery,
and farm. Even though he was young, Ben was still expected to do his share
of the work load.
When the War Between the States erupted in 1861, Ben and his brothers
Esom, James, Philemon, and John, were invited to join an independent cavalry
company that was being formed of men who could
furnish their own mounts and tack. Of their own free will, the brothers enlisted in "Hubbard's
Company of Alabama Rangers" in September of 1861, and after brief, but
intense training, were sent into western and middle Tennessee where they
helped Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman with the defense of Fort
Henry. The company avoided capture as Fort Henry fell in early 1862, which
enabled it to participate in many more skirmishes and battles throughout western Tennessee.
Along about this time the company left its independent roots and became
part of the 1st Confederate Cavalry Regiment, C.S.A., and were designated
Company "K".
Company K was detached early on though and again fought independently in many fierce engagements
during this period including taking part in the Battle of Shiloh in April
of 1862. The company suffered many casualties leading up to and including
Shiloh which caused it to appoint Ben's older brother Esom, who also had
been wounded, as Captain and were detailed to go to North Alabama to be
consolidated into a new regiment known as the 4th Alabama Cavalry (Roddey's)
Regiment, C.S.A., under the command of Colonel Philip Dale Roddey. In 1864,
20-year-old Ben was detailed by Captain Kelley to go to Athens, Alabama,
and pick up the body of their brother, James, and take it home for burial.
It was a dangerous assignment as union patrols were everywhere and travel
at night was somewhat safer than during the day. Upon arrival at Athens,
Ben hitched both of their horses to a wagon and placed the body inside for
the sad trip home. Somewhere down the road, the wagon broke down and Ben
had to place the body over the pommel of James' own horse and lead it on home.
Ben later said that he made better time that way, and he was lucky that
he had thought to put the saddles in the wagon in case something like this
happened. He got the body home and buried it in a place on the family property that later became the Old Kelley/Tucker Cemetery. Ben was also captured in
early 1865 at the Black Warrior River while scouting union positions. He
was not imprisoned though and Ben was heard to have said that "my uniform
was so threadbare that they (union soldiers) could not tell if I was a
soldier or a beggar and let me go". Ben served honorably in Company K until the end
of the war.
When Ben and his two other surviving brothers returned home after the war,
they found their home in deplorable condition. As if this and losing the war were not bad enough, Ben and his brothers found out that
their younger brother, Tolbert, had gone to a local mill to have some corn
ground into meal when a group of northern sympathizers, known as "Tories",
under the command of a man by the name of John Stough, tied him to a horse
and dragged him to death. Later, Ben, Esom, and John, sought out Stough
and after satisfying themselves that he was responsible, avenged their
brothers death by killing the man and his dogs under the age-old law of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth, and a death for a death". They made no effort to conceal their
trail after the affair was over. A group of John Stough's friends tried
to form a posse to pursue the Kelley's, but cooler heads prevailed as it
was decided that any confrontation with the brothers would not be wise and no effort was ever made to prosecute them. Years later, relatives and close
friends say that Ben was still visibly moved when any mention of the Stough
affair was made.
With the tragic years of the war behind him, Ben went into happier times
and had a very bright future with his new wife Roxannah Maddox. She was
from Pikeville, Marion County, Alabama, and her and Ben raised eight children
while making a living farming. In 1870, Ben and Roxannah, along with Ben's
brother Esom and sister Elizabeth, become two of the eight charter members
of the Eldridge Baptist Church. The Annual Kelley Reunion has been held
at this church every year since 1939, celebrating its 50th in 1989.
Even in his later years, Ben was quite the historian. People from all around
would come to Ben and ask him to recite history. He had a reputation for
having a tremendous memory for details which was evident as fellow confederate
veterans needed affidavits of service to collect pension benefits and Ben
provided many of these for the veterans and their widows. Unlike union veterans
who could collect federal pensions, confederate veterans had to get theirs
from the individual states they served from. Records were needed to prove service and confederate
records were hard to come by since many had been destroyed or were very
scarce, so affidavits were used as proof. Ben also loved to sit on the
front porch of the Kelley mercantile store in Eldridge and "chat" with
strangers that pulled up or the locals that were shopping inside. He was
a real "people person".
Benjamin died on September 12, 1926, at the age of 83. He is buried in
a spot which he had previously selected across from his house on a little
knoll that is now known as the New Kelley Cemetery. When Roxannah died
on April 4, 1940, she was buried alongside Ben.
Portrait circa 1861
New Kelley Cemetery
Eldridge, Alabama
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