Home of Captain James Kelso

Home of Captain James Kelso. Leader of Shippensburg's Company D. The house to your left was the residence of James and Jane McCormick Kelso and their 8 children from 1858 to 1879. In 1862, James Kelso left his family and stationery business to accept a commission as a Union Army officer. Captain Kelso raised a company of 101 men from the Shippensburg area that would be mustered into service on August 4, 1862, as Company D of the 130th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Shippensburg's Company D would experience heavy fighting at the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. In its 9 months of service, the company lost 8 men, two to disease and 6 to combat injuries. After being mustered out on May 21st, 1863, James Kelso and Company D's surviving men returned home. One month later, when the Confederate army occupied Shippensburg, they looted the Union officer's home, taking what money, valuables, and furnishings they could find. The Kelso family was otherwise unharmed. , Did you know? , James Kelso refused a promotion offered at the Battle of Fredericksburg so that he could continue serving with the men from Shippensburg, thus honoring a promise he made to recruits' parents that he would either “fall with them or return home with them.” George J. McLean (right), fatally wounded at Fredericksburg, was one of eight volunteers enlisted by Kelso who did not return. , [Captions (left to right)] , . Captain James Kelso , . George J. McLean , . Bloody Lane at the Battle of Antietam