The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: ESP
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Jean Pierre Keller was born in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, c. 1740 and arrived in Louisiana with his parents in the fall of 1759 aboard the ship Don de Dieu from Rochefort, France. Upon arrival in the Louisiana Territory he still lived under the French flag but in 1762 he lived under the flag of Spain.
Jean Pierre, age 39, appears as early as 1770 in the list of volunteers of the 2nd Company of Militia of the Louisiana Coast of the Germans as a fusilier (a soldier carrying a type of flintlock musket). He is listed as a Corporal in the Militia on 02 Jun 1778 and under the overall command of Governor General Bernardo de Gálvez.
Jean Pierre was one of the men in the initial force of 600 men assembled by Gálvez in August 1779. This diverse military force, speaking more than ten languages, marched more than 100 miles through the dense forests and waist to shoulder deep swamps to challenge the British at Fort Bute of Manchac, a six-cannon British stockade fort.
After 11 days of marching the army of Gálvez reached Fort Bute on 06 Sept 1779. Mostly abandoned by the British upon hearing of Gálvez advance, Fort Bute was easily taken in a dawn attack on 07 Sept 1779. An easy but much needed morale booster for the new army of Gálvez. The British suffered one killed and 16 captured. The army of Gálvez suffered no casualties.
The force of Gálvez later marched the roughly fifteen miles on to the British fort at Baton Rouge and reached the outskirts on 12 Sept 1779 to lay siege. The fort was manned by a British force of approximately 550 men. The army of Gálvez launched a three-hour artillery barrage from their secure vantage point and wrecked the fort. On 21 Sept 1779, the British officers surrendered both the Baton Rouge fort and Fort Panmure, at Natchez, Mississippi. The British casualties include four killed, two wounded, and 375 captured. Thirty British soldiers later died from their wounds while in captivity. The army of Gálvez suffered one killed and two wounded.
It is well documented that the Louisiana German Coast volunteer Militia, including Jean Pierre, fought with Gálvez against the British at Bayou Manchac and Baton Rouge. The volunteer Militia of the German Coast remained an integral part of the Gálvez force for future battles and it is hard to believe that Jean Pierre Keller would not have also been involved in some of those battles.
Jean Pierre lived near Edgard in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, at the time of his death. He drowned in the Mississippi River near his home apparently on his way to New Orleans on 04 August 1789 (according to the inventory of his property). His body was never found.
Jean Pierre Keller would not live to see France reacquire the Louisiana Territory from Spain in 1802, or to later see the United States acquire the 827,000 sq. mile territory from France for $15 Million in the great 1803 Louisiana Purchase.
Jean Pierre Keller fathered at least seven children including one son, also named Jean Pierre. That son, at age 23, went on to fight against the British in the War of 1812.
Author: Lewis Gregory Lindsly
Jean Pierre Keller (II) was a member of the Louisiana German Coast Militia under Captain Don Carlos Brazcauc (Brosseaux) and the overall command of Governor General Bernardo de Galvez during the American Revolution. It is well documented in Churchill’s book and others that the German Coast Militia participated in the Battles of Baton Rouge and Bayou Manchac and the recently discovered 1778 Germ. Coast Militia list found by Judy Riffel provided the proof for individual patriots including Jean Pierre Keller.
Pierre, as he appears in most records, was born in Rochetarque, Strasburg, Alsace, France ca. 1746 to Jean Pierre Keller (I), who was also born in Strasburg and Anne Catherine Waguerly who was born in Alsace, France as well. The parents of Pierre (II) were married in Strasburg ca. 1746. He was their first child. He married Marie Percel 10 Nov 1778 in Saint John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. She was born in St. John the Baptist Parish to Jean Joachim (Wackim) Percel who was from Bas Rhine and Marie Barbe Marx who was born in Louisiana to German born parents Balthazar Marx and Maria Ursula Edinger ca. 1736.
Pierre (II) and Marie had at least seven children, six girls and one boys. Their only know son, also Jean Pierre, appears to have served in the War of 1812. Pierre Keller died at age 52 on 03 Sep 1798 in St. John the Baptist Parish. The St. John Parish court records indicate that at his death he owned property consisting of a tract of land four by forty arpents about 13 Leagues (38-45 miles) up the Mississippi from New Orleans on the Right Ascending (north) bank, at that location on the River, very near Edgard. He was likely buried at the St. John the Baptist Church, but we have not identified his grave location at this time.
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