This story takes place in Pennsylvania.
Ciani found a GAR marker at an unmarked grave in the cemetery with the number 150 on it. he researched and was able to find out information on Jonah Key.
he was born in Frederick County, Md around 1838 and lived there until 1860. On Augusat 4, 1863, he enlisted in the US Army at age 25, in Co. F, 4th US Colored Troops.
The 1850 and 1860 US Census reports him as a free man working as a laborer and blacksmith. Ciani and Riley think that Jonah Key's father may have been a slave freed by Francis Scott Key of Star-Spangled Banner fame.
Key married Virginia Dick in 1861 and had two children. He served at the battles of Bermuda Hundred, Fort Converse and Petersburg. He was wounded June 15, 1864 in the left hand, shattering the bone and causing the hand to become useless. He was discharged April 1, 1865, moved to Pittsburgh and worked as a laborer. His first wife died in 1892 and he remarried. In 1920, he was living in New Brighton and died of heart failure at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio, on April 12, 1920.
A Brave Soldier Who deserves a Tombstone. --B-R'er
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
