Veteran's Day  

November 11, 2021

 By Seth McFarland

In memory of our veterans, one local account dates back to the time of the Mexican War. On June 11, 1846, Arthur E. Hughes was enrolled and mustered into the service at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as a private, Co. E 1st Missouri Mounted Infantry. On July 13, 1846, while attempting to ford the Pawnee Fork as a courier during the war, he drowned in the river. It was not until after several decades that attempts were made to place a memorial near where he was buried near the scene of the tragedy. Jay Hurley of the American Legion post wrote the war department in Washington in an effort to learn of the exact place of burial. No official record could be found of the exact grave site. However, he will be remembered as the first casualty of the Mexican War.