History, School of Liberal Arts, The McCormick Center for the Study of the American Revolution
Kieran dressed for graduation with statue
Kieran O'Keefe Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of history

Kieran O'Keefe, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of history, used to frighten the children every time he pulled out his surgical kit and prepared to amputate a limb.

If the surgeon was unable to remove the fired musket ball from an arm or leg, an infection was likely to start at the wound and spread throughout the body. At that point, there would be little 18th century medicine could do. To save the soldier, amputation was often necessary. O'Keefe would explain this to the students, with just enough gory detail to make them squirm. 

O'Keefe joined the Siena faculty this year as a McCormick Center for the Study of the American Revolution Postdoctoral Fellow. He's teaching two courses - America in the World: 1596-1877 and The American Revolution - while finishing his book, “Suffering for the Crown: The Hudson Valley Loyalists, Violence, and Forced Migration in Revolutionary North America.” As the title suggests, O'Keefe is telling the story of loyalists in the Hudson Valley during the Revolutionary War. From a research perspective, Siena provided the perfect opportunity. But while his research focuses on colonists who were loyal to the king, O'Keefe always fancied himself a patriot, either as a soldier, a blacksmith, or surgeon. 

The New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site in New Windsor, NY features a reconstruction of the Continental Army's final military encampment. History buffs, like O'Keefe, demonstrate what life was like in 1783. Sometimes he would fire a musket, other times he would lead a medical demonstration (and describe, for children on a field trip, what happens when the musket finds its target).

"I was always interested in learning about the past. My parents would take us to Colonial Williamsburg, and I've just always had a natural curiosity about it."

O'Keefe worked at the New Windsor Cantonment from his junior year of high school through completion of his master's degree. Of course now, instead of demonstrating history, he's writing about it. O'Keefe hopes his book will be published within the next two years.

"Siena offers a great opportunity for me in terms of my research. There are a lot of archives in the local vicinity that are pertinent to my book, such as the New York State Library, the New York State Archives, as well as other smaller institutions, like local county historical societies. Having all of these places at my fingertips while I'm working on my book is really helpful. 

Also, Siena also holds special resonance for me because my parents both went here as did my grandfather. So it's nice to continue the family tradition in a way, which goes back almost 70 years now."

Kieran O'Keefe, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of history