Chauncey McKeever was born on August 31, 1829, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Isaac and Mary McKeever. He was baptized on November 21, 1829. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1849 and received a commission in the United States artillery. In December 1853, he was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in the 3^rd United States Light Artillery. He served as an assistant professor of mathematics at West Point in the mid-1850s. He married Fanny Chauncey in 1857, and they had at least three children: Mary; Helen, born around 1862; and Eliza, born around 1864.  

 

In 1860, according to an early biographer, he “obtained leave of absence to go abroad, but broke his leave and returned home promptly under apprehension of war between the North and South, reporting for duty to General [Winfield] Scott, who warmly expressed his gratification at this evidence of patriotism.” There was “never any question as to his duty or loyalty to the Constitution and flag he had sworn to uphold.”

 

He took part in the First Battle of Manassas, the Peninsula campaign, the Seven Days’ Battles, and the Second Battle of Manassas. He was promoted to captain in August 1861, to major in July 1862, and to lieutenant colonel in August 1862.

 

He remained in the army after the Civil War, and he was promoted to colonel in February 1887. He returned on August 31, 1893, and settled in Washington, D.C. His wife died in January 1900, and he died at a “health resort” in Emden, Germany, in September 1901.

 

Image: Chauncey McKeever (Thirty-Second Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West, Point, New York, June 8, 1901)

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