December 26, 1866

Samuel Ryan Curtis—who was the Union general responsible for the victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge, the capture of Helena (Phillips County), and the repulse of General Price’s 1864 invasion of Missouri and Kansas—died while inspecting the Union Pacific Railroad track near Council Bluff, Iowa. After the Civil War, Curtis had served as an Indian commissioner and government consultant concerning the track constructed by the Union Pacific Railroad.