Maj. A.T. Keen
Alderson Thompson Keen (1840-1923) was a major in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and the man chiefly responsible for convincing Gen. Ambrose Burnside to march his massive army through Scott County en route to Knoxville to seize control of East Tennessee from Confederate forces in 1863. He as also the maternal grandfather of Congressman Howard H. Baker Sr. and great-grandfather of Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr.
Biography
Born Oct. 28, 1840 in Burkesville, Ky., Keen was the son of William Keen (1809-1867) and Permelia B. Claywell (1821-1898). He was one of five children. His siblings included brothers John and James, born in 1848 and 1850, and sisters Emma and Eunice, born in 1858 and 1863.
Civil War
A.T. Keen became a major in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. He was part of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry that was known as “Wolford’s Cavalry” in honor of its leader, Col. Frank Wolford. A number of Scott Countians served in Wolford’s Cavalry alongside Keen.
Keen enlisted as a private on July 25, 1861, at the age of 20. He quickly became 1st sergeant of Company J, and was promoted to 1st lieutenant on Dec. 10, 1861. He was promoted to captain on July 4, 1863, and to major on June 24, 1864.
In a regimental history published in 1894, Rev. W.H. Honnell of Kansas recalled a day during the war when Keen and his comrades attempted to capture a mill at a salt works. He recalled: “Said Capt. Baker (of the Thirty-Fifth Kentucky) to keen, ‘Isn’t the odds too great with their Infantry brigade on their chosen ground?’ ‘What else can we do?’ replied Keen, ‘we are hungry; there is meal and flour; let us put on a bold front, lead our horses, jump over the logs, and make our way through the tree tops; they will think we are only the advance, and when they retreat, we will take the mill and hold it.’ And so they did to the utter amazement of the Captain and his Company, who, for the first time, were initiated into the ways of the First Kentucky Cavalry, and formed a part of it.”
Keen was perhaps most notable for his role in the Union invasion of East Tennessee in the late summer of 1863. Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside was preparing to march on Knoxville and free East Tennessee from the grips of the Confederate Army. On June 14, 1863, he sent a force of 1,500 men — led by Col. William Price — through Scott County. It was a precursor to the main army’s invasion. The forces disrupted communication networks, seized supplies, and captured 104 Confederate soldiers in Wartburg.
After receiving the go-ahead to invade East Tennessee several weeks later, Burnside sent Wolford and Keen with a group of 50 men to scout the roads through Scott County and determine whether they were suitable for the huge army that would be marching on Knoxville. The scouts returned and reported that the roads were suitable, which cemented Burnside’s decision to move his troops through Scott County.
Family
Following the conclusion of the war, Keen married Sarah Ann “Sallie” Curd (1843-1901), who was originally from Somerset, Ky. They married on Sept. 19, 1866 in Somerset, Ky., and had seven children: William Brent (1867-1892), Helen Blanche (1869-1944), Flora Eunice (1872-1959), Bettie Crawford (1875-1925), Robert P. (1878-1936), Mattie H. (1880-1974) and Henry W. (1884-1951).
Helen Blanche Keen, the oldest of the girls in the family, married James Francis Baker (1864-1924), an attorney from Tennessee. The third of their four children was Howard Henry Baker, who would later be elected to Congress to represent Tennessee’s 2nd District. James F. Baker served as a circuit court judge in Huntsville and practiced law there with his son.
Move to Scott County
Keen and his family moved to Scott County at some point later in life. The exact date is not clear, but an April 5, 1890 edition of the Cumberland Chronicle, a newspaper published in Huntsville, noted: “Maj. A.T. Keen and family, formerly of Greenwood, Kentucky, recently moved to our county and are now in charge of the Helenwood Hotel.”
Keen is not found in Scott County in the 1900 census. Instead, he is listed as having returned to Somerset, Ky. The only member of his family reported as living in Scott County at the time was daughter Flora, who lived with her sister, Helen Keen Baker, and her family.
Keen is also reported as living in Somerset, Ky. in both the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Therefore, it would seem likely that published accounts of his death occurring in Scott County are inaccurate. Based on the census records, it seems that Keen likely moved to Scott County sometime around 1890 and returned to Kentucky before 1900.
Death
Keen died on April 30, 1923, at the age of 82. He is buried at Somerset City Cemetery in Somerset, Ky.