Conrad Keck
was born in Northampton County Pennsylvania in 1755. In 1777 at the age
of 22, Keck joined the Captain Isaac Koren Company of Proctor’s PA
artillery.
His pension
states he was at Brandywine,
Germantown, and other
battles. His company also fought at Monmouth Courthouse so there is a
possibility he may have been there. At the battle of Brandywine PA which
was fought on September 11, 1777, Proctor’s artillery was positioned
behind the John Chad house on the right flank of General Anthony Wayne.
At 10Am, Proctors cannons started firing at the advancing Hessians under
the command of General Wilhelm Knyphausen. The fighting continued until
5pm when Knyphausen overran Proctor’s position. Proctor was forced to
leave his cannons behind at the battle of
Brandywine during the retreat, a great
loss for the Continental army.
At the
battle of
Germantown
PA which was fought on
October 4, 1777, Keck along with Proctor’s artillery fired into the Chew
House where most of the British Army had barricaded themselves in. The
Continental army was winning the battle until General Stephens of the
Continental army appeared at
Germantown in a drunken
stupor and ordered his men to fire blindly into the dense fog. Proctor’s
artillery was forced to retreat when they started getting hit by the
bullets being fired into the fog. General Stephens was court-martialed
for this action.
If Keck
was at the battle of Monmouth fought on June 28, 1778, he participated
in the fiercest Artillery duel of the revolutionary war. At 10 AM, the
British started firing their cannons at the right flank of the
continental army. Proctor’s cannons fired back. For two hours, both
armies would bombard each other with over 1600 rounds of round shot and
cannon balls from the 12 cannons each side had. The cannon balls plowed
bloody lanes into the lines of both armies. At 12 pm. General Charles
Lee ordered Anthony Wayne positioned in the center to feint a retreat so
the right and left flanks of the Continental army could surround the
British army. Due to poor communications on the battlefield, the left
and right flanks began to retreat also thinking an order of retreat had
been given.
Washington arrived on the
field of battle at the right time to rally his forces and take command
of the battle. By 12:30pm,
Washington had moved his artillery
behind the
Perrine farm ridge. The British
positioned their artillery in a hedge row in front of the continental
army. For the next 6 hours, the fiercest fighting and artillery duel of
the Revolutionary war began to take place. The Continentals won the
Artillery battle when Greene brought up 4 more cannons making it a total
of 16 cannons that the Continentals had firing at the British. At
nightfall the British began their retreat when they were pounded again
by the Continental Artillery and was forced to pull back. At 11pm, the
British sneaked quietly off of the battlefield while the Continental
army slept.
After the
war in 1780, Keck moved to Orange
county
NC where he met and
married Maryann Moser. From this
Union they had 14 children. Keck
arrived in Claiborne
county
TN in 1800. By
1814, Keck had moved to Hunting creek located in Sharps chapel TN. In
1832, Keck applied for a pension for his revolutionary war service. On
February 7, 1836, Keck died and was buried in Irwin cemetery located
nearby.
His wife
Maryann stayed in
Claiborne
County where she
died in 1851 and was buried next to her husband. During the Civil war,
several Keck’s joined the Confederate army. In 1884, most of the Kecks
lived in a community in
Claiborne
County called Kecks
chapel where most still live today. Today most of Keck’s descendents
live in the Claiborne,
Campbell and
Union
County
TN regions.