black troops at the "Battle of Westport" in 1864
May 26, 2011 at 5:41am
Larry,
Your surmise is indeed correct. At the Battle of Westport, actually, Lieut. Patrick Minor was in the field in command of the battery also known as Douglas' Colored Battery or Minor's battery. The battery was present at Byram's Ford on 22 October and in the reports appearing in the Official Records of the engagement it is referenced as Minor's battery. On the next day 23 October, the battery was located along present day 51st Street adjacent to McClain's Independent Colorado battery, firing south across present day Loose Park toward the Confederate Collins' battery located along 55th Street. Minor's battery in fact was able to disable one of the Confederate guns. Matthews' rank is also lieutenant not captain. Although Douglas was the senior commander, he did not participate in the field and instead was more involved in the recruitment effort. Lt. Patrick Minor, like Douglas, was a well educated man and a graduate of Oberlin. Unfortunately Lt. Minor suddenly died at Leavenworth in the spring of 1865; so far I have been unable to locate an image of him. As a result we have relied on the available image that we have of Lieutenant Matthews. A good mystery hunt would be to locate an image of Lieutenant Minor.
Roger Cunningham has written most extensively about this unit. His article appears in the Spring 2002 issue of the Kansas State Historical Society's quarterly history journal. Roger's account also appears as Chapter in his book on Kansas African American troops that was published the University of Missouri press in approximately 2007 or 2008.
Dan
DANIEL L. SMITH
Ankerholz and Smith
6900 College Boulevard, Suite 510
Overland Park, Kansas 66211
Tel: 913 345-2000 Fax: 913 345-2081
--- On Tue, 5/24/11, Larry Delano Coleman Friday, October 24, 2014
BLACK TROOPS AT THE BATTLE OF WESTPORT
black troops at the "Battle of Westport" in 1864
May 26, 2011 at 5:41am
Larry,
Your surmise is indeed correct. At the Battle of Westport, actually, Lieut. Patrick Minor was in the field in command of the battery also known as Douglas' Colored Battery or Minor's battery. The battery was present at Byram's Ford on 22 October and in the reports appearing in the Official Records of the engagement it is referenced as Minor's battery. On the next day 23 October, the battery was located along present day 51st Street adjacent to McClain's Independent Colorado battery, firing south across present day Loose Park toward the Confederate Collins' battery located along 55th Street. Minor's battery in fact was able to disable one of the Confederate guns. Matthews' rank is also lieutenant not captain. Although Douglas was the senior commander, he did not participate in the field and instead was more involved in the recruitment effort. Lt. Patrick Minor, like Douglas, was a well educated man and a graduate of Oberlin. Unfortunately Lt. Minor suddenly died at Leavenworth in the spring of 1865; so far I have been unable to locate an image of him. As a result we have relied on the available image that we have of Lieutenant Matthews. A good mystery hunt would be to locate an image of Lieutenant Minor.
Roger Cunningham has written most extensively about this unit. His article appears in the Spring 2002 issue of the Kansas State Historical Society's quarterly history journal. Roger's account also appears as Chapter in his book on Kansas African American troops that was published the University of Missouri press in approximately 2007 or 2008.
Dan
DANIEL L. SMITH
Ankerholz and Smith
6900 College Boulevard, Suite 510
Overland Park, Kansas 66211
Tel: 913 345-2000 Fax: 913 345-2081
--- On Tue, 5/24/11, Larry Delano Coleman 
