Kelley and his comrades in the 104th OVI spent 1863 in Kentucky, and then moved to East Tennessee until April 1864. They were reassigned to duty as part of the XXIII Corps in Georgia, and Tennessee in late 1864. Kelley was promoted to captain and commander of Company A. He captured a Confederate flag during the fighting at Franklin in November and was awarded the Medal of Honor a few months later. The regiment subsequently served in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina. Kelley was mustered out of the army on June 14, 1865.
After the war, Kelley returned to Ohio. At the age of 24, he married Fannie Bliss on October 18, 1866. Following her death, he moved to Denver, Colorado, and became a rancher. On May 15, 1890, he married a local resident Louisa Talitha Holloway (February 13, 1865 – February 6, 1902).[1]
He is buried in that city's Riverside Cemetery.[2]
Rank and organization: Captain, Company A, 104th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Franklin, Tenn., November 30, 1864. Entered service at: Massillon, Ohio. Born: March 23, 1843, Massillon, Ohio. Date of issue: February 13, 1865.
Citation:
Capture of flag supposed to be of Cheatham's Corps (C.S.A.).[3][4][5][6]
Gaskill, J. W. (1919). Footprints Through Dixie: Everyday Life of a Man under a Musket, on the Firing Line, and in the Trenches, 1862-1865. Alliance, OH: Bradshaw Printing. p. 186. hdl:2027/osu.32435015760382.
Ohio Roster Commission (1888). 87th–108th Regiments-Infantry. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Vol. VII. Cincinnati, OH: The Ohio Valley Press. p. 814. hdl:2027/uiug.30112047586034. OCLC633556.
Pinney, Nelson A. (1886). History of the 104th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry from 1862 to 1865. Akron, OH: Werner & Lohmann. p. 148. hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6vx0kk1n. OCLC39785111.
Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (1968). Edward M Kennedy, Chairman (ed.). Medal of Honor, 1863-1968 : "In the Name of the Congress of the United States". Committee print (United States. Congress), 90th Congress, 2nd session. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1087. OCLC1049691780.
"MOHs - victoriacross". THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE VICTORIA & GEORGE CROSS. VCOnline. 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.