William D Berry

Going Home William D Berry

For the McKeegs, 1865 was a year of hope. The people of Texas were looking eastward for the return of their loved ones. The Brazos Valley, where the McKeeg Ranch headquarters was located, had been spared the destruction suffered in the eastern battlefiels. The many battles fought in the Shenandoah Valley were in the area of Joshua McKeeg's family home. Josh and Emily's three oldest sons had served in a Cavalry unit attached to Robert E. Lee's headquarters. Major Travis McKeeg was with Robert E. Lee, and witnessed, first hand, the surrender of the Southern Armies at Appomattox Courthouse. The Texas frontier was stripped of most of the men of fighting age, and was left almost defenseless against the onslaught of the marauding Comanches, Kiowas, and unscrupulous white men intent on taking the lands for themselves. The McKeegs and their neighbors clung tenaciously to their homes along the Texas frontier. With the expected return of their friends and family from the war, they prayed for peaceful times, while continuing to guard against sudden attacks and land swindles. The men of the Army of the Confederacy were saddened by the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, but their mood was bittersweet, in that finally, after four long years, they were going home.