16 August 1864; Carneiro, Kansas: A six-man detachment of Company H, 7th Iowa Cavalry, left Salina, Kansas, carrying orders for the commanding officer at Fort Larned to intercept Cheyennes who had been raiding along the Overland Trail near Fort Kearny and were now moving south. However, at about 4 p.m. on Alum Creek, east of the Smoky Hill crossing of the Santa Fe Road, about 200 Cheyennes waylaid the messengers, killing four of them. The two surviving soldiers hightailed it back to Salina.
