Irish-born Joseph Kelly, a veteran of the British Army and St. Louis grocer, became captain of the Washington Blues militia company in 1857. In May 1861, Kelly was ordered to take his company to Jefferson City as an escort for arms and gunpowder, thereby avoiding the so-called “Camp Jackson Massacre.” Kelly and his men soon became Company A, 1st Infantry Regiment, Sixth Division, Missouri State Guard, and fought at Boonville, Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, Lexington and Pea Ridge. Kelly himself was promoted to colonel and commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment in June 1861. Wounded in the right hand at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Kelly continued to command the regiment, but briefly assumed command of the Sixth Division of the Missouri State Guard in April 1862 before resigning. In late 1862, he entered Confederate service and was appointed to the staff of Brigadier General Mosby M. Parsons, serving with Parsons for the remainder of the war and eventually rising to the rank of colonel.

Kelly was paroled at Shreveport, Louisiana in June 1865. He returned to St. Louis, died there on May 30, 1870, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Cabinet card by unknown photographer.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield