Reference the following URL, Captain William D. Matthews and Lieutenant Patrick H. Minor, who served in the 1st Kansas Colored Independent Battery, were commissioned and served in the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment until the unit was mustered into the Union Army in 1863. The War Department would not accept the two Black officers.

Lt. Minor commanded a Company during the skirmish at Island Mound, Missouri on October 28, 1862 against Confederate bushwhackers, the first engagement by Black soldiers in the Civil War which took place before the regiment was officially mustered into the Union Army.

Captain Matthews was on official business and recruiting in the Leavenworth, Kansas area at the time.