Samuel Reader joined the Kansas State Militia in Shawnee County when the war broke out between the North and South, but they didn't see action until "Price's Raid" in the late fall of 1864. Samuel wrote this eye-witness account of the Battle of the Big Blue in 1898, based on his 1864 diary entries. The Militia helped delay the advance of the Confederate troops, even though they were inexperienced and outnumbered 6-to-1. They suffered heavy losses and Samuel was among the men taken prisoner by the Rebels. He soon escaped and witnessed Price's defeat at the Battle of Mine Creek in Linn County three days later.