Robert Henry Kirkwood Whiteley was born April 15, 1809, in Cambridge, Maryland, to Arthur Whiteley and Mary Kirkwood. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1830 and received a commission as a 2^nd lieutenant in the 2^nd United States Artillery.  He was stationed in Charleston Harbor during the nullification crisis, and he served in the Seminole War and the Mexican American War. He married Hester Dodson on November 27, 1830, and they had at least nine children: Mary, born around 1832; Elizabeth, born around 1833; Robert, born around 1835; Catherine, born around 1838; George, born around 1839; Hellen, born around 1846; Molly, born around 1847; Hester, born around 1849; and Arthur, born around 1852.

 

Whiteley served in the army’s ordnance department, and he earned a promotion to captain in 1842. He was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, during the secession crisis, and Confederate officials reportedly offered him a “high position in the Confederate Army.” Whiteley, however, remained loyal to the Union, and he commanded the arsenal in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, during the war. He was promoted to major in August 1861, to lieutenant colonel in June 1863, and to colonel on April 6, 1866.

 

Whiteley retired from the army in 1875 and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He remained there for the rest of his life, and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Baltimore on June 9, 1896.

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