Heavily bearded Henry "Foxy" McKnight -- longtime widower of Barbara (Minerd) McKnight of Dawson, Fayette County, PA -- is one of 107 Civil War soldiers in our clan whom we will honor at our upcoming national family reunion in June. Entitled "A Visit from a Civil War Soldier," the reunion will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. 

In this image, representing four generations, Henry's son Charles McKnight sits in the foreground; grandson Clarence "Jay" McKnight stands in the doorway, and a great-grandson (name unknown) at the knee of the venerable soldier. The location and date of this photograph are unknown, but it likely was posed in Dawson, and no later than 1915, the year when the elderly man died. 

Henry served in the 140th Pennsylvania Infantry during the war. While on duty at White Hall Station, MD, on Dec. 1, 1862, as he later said, he "was thrown into a creek and caught a severe cold which brought on Rheumatism and Catarrh..."  He was treated at hospitals in York, PA until May 1863 and in Pittsburgh until July 1863, when he received an early honorary discharge and returned home to his wife and children. Heartache was to rock the young family in February following the end of the war ... [ more ]