Doctor William Harrison Kemper, U.S.V.

Doctor William Harrison Kemper was born in Rush County, Indiana, on the 16th day of December, 1839. His parents, Arthur S. and Patience (Bryant) Kemper, were natives of Garrard County, Kentucky, and were of German descent. The early life of their son was not unlike that of the majority of farmers' boys. His father died in 1849, and, at the age of ten years, he began the battle of life for himself. The next seven years his time was employed in working on his mother's farm during the summer and attending the district school during the winter. In 1856 he removed to Montezuma, Iowa, and spent a year as a clerk in a dry-goods store. An opportunity presenting, he accepted employment in a printing office, where he worked for two years more. The opportunities for acquiring knowledge in the printing-office, which he eagerly embraced, stimulated a desire for more, and, early in the winter of 1859, he removed to Greensburg, Indiana, and entered the City Seminary. Here his studies were industriously pursued until January, 1861. A desire for the study of medicine had been cherished for some time, and at the age of twenty-one years he entered upon the study of this profession in the office of John W. Moodey, M.D.

Shortly before the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, Doctor Kemper began the study of medicine. On April 18, 1861, after the fall of Fort Sumter, he enlisted in the service, being the forty-seventh person to volunteer in Decatur County, Indiana, where he then resided. That company became Company B, Seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteers (three months' service). The regiment left Indianapolis under the command of its colonel, afterwards General, Ebenezer Dumont, on the 29th of May, for Western Virginia, and participated in the campaign under General McClellan. He was present with his regiment, serving as a private soldier, in the following engagements: Philippi, June 3, 1861; Laurel Hill, or Bealington, skirmishes, July 7 to 11; and Carrick's Ford. July 13. The regiment was mustered out of service August 2, 1861.

In April, 1863, the Seventeenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, which up to this date was an infantry regiment, was mounted in connection with three other regiments, and armed with the Spencer repeating rifle. This brigade was well known throughout the Army of the Cumberland as Wilder's Brigade of Mounted Infantry.

During the winter of 1864-65 he attended a course of medical lectures at the University of Michigan, and in the spring following a second course at the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, where he graduated in June, 1865. The same year he located in Muncie, Indiana, where he has since resided and been engaged in the general practice of his profession.

Doctor Kemper was coroner of Delaware County, Indiana, from 1870 to 1875. He has been an examining surgeon for pensioners since May, 1872, to the present time, except for a period of two years, when removed for political reasons. He was treasurer of the Indiana State Medical Society from 1879 to 1885, and in 1886 elected its president, and presided at the session of 1887. He has contributed more than fifty articles on medical and surgical subjects to various medical societies and journals.

Doctor Kemper is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, being a charter member of the Indiana Commandery, insignia No. 4648. In politics he is a Republican, and in religious belief a Methodist.

On the 13th of August, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Kemper, of Oskaloosa, Iowa. They are the parents of three children,-Georgette Moodey, Arthur Thomson, and William Winton.

Source: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1893, 419 pgs.

Related Links:

• Civil War Records
• Civil War Microfilm at the National Archives
• Kemper Surname