Civil War Ancestors and the Battle of Mine Creek

How often do the paths of our ancestors come close to crossing without their ever knowing it?

As I have researched my Civil War ancestors, I have discovered men serving in units from Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Kansas. Recently, I started wondering whether any of those men—or their siblings—were involved in the Battle of Mine Creek, fought in eastern Kansas on October 25, 1864.

It turns out that my family had several connections to the events surrounding that battle.

The Battle of Mine Creek

The Battle of Mine Creek was part of Confederate Major General Sterling Price's 1864 campaign through Missouri and into Kansas. By late October, Price's army was retreating south following its defeat at Westport.

On October 25, Union cavalry caught part of Price's army near Mine Creek in Linn County, Kansas. The Confederate troops were hindered as they attempted to cross the creek with their wagons.

Union cavalry under Colonel John F. Philips and Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen charged the much larger Confederate force. The result was a significant Union victory.

Among the Union troops was the 7th Indiana Cavalry, commanded by Major S. W. Simonson and serving in Benteen's brigade.

And serving in that regiment was my second great-grandfather.

James Marshall Ricketts — 7th Indiana Cavalry

James Marshall Ricketts served as a private in Company K of the 7th Regiment Indiana Cavalry.

His military record indicates that he was present during September and October 1864. Thus, when the 7th Indiana Cavalry participated in the campaign that culminated at Mine Creek on October 25, James was with his regiment.

The 7th Indiana had been involved in the pursuit of Price through Missouri, participating in a series of engagements leading up to Mine Creek, including Little Blue River, Independence, Big Blue, and Westport.

This puts James Marshall Ricketts in the midst of one of the largest cavalry engagements of the Civil War west of the Mississippi.

For me, that transforms Mine Creek from a Kansas historic site into part of my own family history.

The Briles Family and the Kansas Militia

Another branch of my family was also caught up in the events surrounding Price's raid.

My second great-grandfather Noah Washington Briles was living in Iowa when the Civil War began. He served in Company I of the 1st Iowa Cavalry.

Although Iowa cavalry played an important role at Mine Creek, Noah's regiment was not one of the Iowa units involved. The Iowa cavalry regiments fighting at Mine Creek were the 3rd and 4th Iowa Cavalry. The 1st Iowa Cavalry was elsewhere during this portion of the campaign.

However, Noah had family members living in Kansas.

Several of his brothers and brothers-in-law served under Captain John Douglass in Company I of the Kansas State Militia.

Captain Douglass commanded Company I of the 16th Regiment, Kansas State Militia Infantry. Like other Kansas militia units, the company was called into emergency service when Governor Thomas Carney mobilized the militia in response to Price's advance toward Kansas.

According to information I have found, Douglass's company did not participate in the famous cavalry charge at Mine Creek. Instead, the Kansas militia followed the regular Union cavalry and assisted after the battle. Members of the 16th Kansas Militia helped secure the battlefield, deal with captured Confederate soldiers, and bury the dead.

Thus, while Noah Briles was serving elsewhere with the 1st Iowa Cavalry, some of his brothers and brothers-in-law were much closer to the action at Mine Creek.

Hiram M. Currey — Kansas State Militia

Another of my second great-grandfathers, Hiram M. Currey, was also serving in the Kansas State Militia during Price's raid.

Hiram served in Company B of the 12th Cavalry Regiment of the Kansas State Militia under Captain Samuel Hollister.

His militia service places him in uniform during the same crisis that brought Price's army toward Kansas. At this point, however, I have not found evidence placing Hiram or his company at the Battle of Mine Creek itself.

That distinction is important. Serving during Price's Raid does not necessarily mean that a soldier participated in the battle.

Other Civil War Ancestors

Mine Creek is only one piece of my family's Civil War story. Other second great-grandfathers also served:

Albert Hutchinson served in Company D of the 1st Iowa Cavalry.

Washington Marion Crawford served in Company H of the 2nd New York Cavalry Volunteers. His Civil War story included being taken prisoner.

Richmond Fisk Hammond served in Company D of the 14th Illinois Cavalry.

George Mentzer served in Company C of the 24th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.

And, as mentioned above, Noah Washington Briles served in Company I of the 1st Iowa Cavalry, while James Marshall Ricketts served in Company K of the 7th Indiana Cavalry and Hiram M. Currey served with the Kansas State Militia.

The war also involved their siblings. In addition to Noah Briles's brothers and brothers-in-law serving in the Kansas militia, James H. Crawford, brother of Washington Marion Crawford, served in Company F of the 72nd Regiment Indiana Infantry.

One Battle, Several Family Connections

What fascinates me about Mine Creek isn't simply being able to say that an ancestor fought there.

It is seeing how the battle fits into a much larger family story.

On October 25, 1864, James Marshall Ricketts was serving with the 7th Indiana Cavalry, the regiment that participated in the battle.

At the same time, members of the Briles family were serving in the Kansas militia called out in response to Price's invasion.

Meanwhile, Noah Washington Briles and other relatives were serving in Union units elsewhere.

Did these men know what their relatives were experiencing? Did the Briles men hear stories about Mine Creek from those who had been there? Did James Ricketts later tell his family about pursuing Price across Missouri and into Kansas?

Those are questions the records may never answer.

But the records do allow me to place members of my family within the larger events of October 1864.

And that is one of the things I enjoy most about genealogy. A battle that appears in a history book as Mine Creek, October 25, 1864, becomes something more when I discover that my own ancestors and their families were part of the story.