This pre-Civil War frock coat was worn by St. Joseph, Missouri resident Reuben Kay. Kay was an aide to Colonel John Taylor Hughes, 1st Infantry, 4th Division, Missouri State Guard and fought at Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861. The Kentucky Military Institute coat is made of blue wool, with three small brass buttons on each sleeve, two small brass buttons on the rear, and eight large brass buttons with eagles on the front. Kay was a graduate of the Kentucky Military Institute.
Later in the war, Kay served as adjutant of the 7th Missouri Cavalry (C.S.), and became assistant adjutant general on the staff of General M. Jeff Thompson. In August 1863 he was captured in Randolph County, Arkansas, and was sent to prison camps in Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, and Johnson’s Island, Ohio, before being paroled in early 1865.
After the war he returned to St. Joseph, but finding it changed, he moved to Frankfort, Tennessee, and went into the dry goods business.
Rueben Kay died of pneumonia on December 18, 1883 at the age of 44.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; 30688
