Ruben Frank Whelchel

A carpenter's son, in 1860 he was a 16 year old living with his parents and 4 younger brothers at Canton in Cherokee County, GA. He enlisted in Canton on 3 September 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company D, 28th Georgia Infantry.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his left arm in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862, and his upper arm was amputated in the upper third, probably the same day.

He was in hospitals in Richmond and Orange Court House, VA through November, and in Atlanta, GA in December 1862. He did not return to duty, afterward absent at home on wounded furlough. He was found disabled for field service by a medical board and formally retired to the Invalid Corps on 21 September 1864.

He was re-examined in Richmond, VA and his retirement was renewed in March 1865, when he was described as 21 years old, 6 feet and 2 inches tall, with a florid complexion, gray eyes, and light hair.

In 1870 he was a wood chopper, living with his brother James, a wood hauler, at Milton in Whitfield County, GA but by 1880 he was a watchman at Tuscaloosa, AL. He applied for a Confederate veteran's pension there in 1887, then a railroad watchman.

His service from the Roster 1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3, also as R.F. Welchel. His amputation also in the MSHWR.3 Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1880, and his 1887 Confederate veteran's pension application, online from FamilySearch. Thanks to Amy Hoaglund for a pension reference and the poke to look into Private Whelchel.

He married Sarah Albertine Shepherd (1857-1902) in September 1871 and they had 12 children by 1899; all but the first one were girls.

c. 1844; Cherokee County, GA