The following comes from Montgomery's, Illustrated Doniphan County History and Ingalls' History of Atchison County, Kansas.
Benjamin Patton Curtis...was born March 27, 1839, in Platte County, Missouri, while his parents were enroute from Tennessee to Illinois. He came [with his parents] to Doniphan County April 24, 1854, and settled on a farm between Elwood and Wathena... He enlisted in Company A, first Kansas volunteer infantry at Elwood, April 10, 1861, under Capt. Bernard P. Choneworth or Chenowith...He was with his regiment in all its engagements, and is Atchison's only survivor of the Battle of Wilson's Creek."

While serving with the 1st Kansas Volunteers in Mississippi, he and another soldier from his company were captured while out foraging. The two were paroled after signing an agreement they would not return to the fight and would be killed if recaptured. They traveled about ninety miles, and enlisted in another Union regiment, the 1st Alabama, under assumed names. Ben Curtis served until 1864 in Co. E, Ist Alabama as Sgt. C. F. Barker, and received a pension under both names. The picture shown here is in his Alabama uniform.

Obituary: Excerpt from Wathena Times, June 1920
"Benjamin Patton Curtis died in a St. Joseph hospital June 14, 1920, following an operation removing the prostate gland. He was 81 years old but retained the heart of a boy and the simplicity and good fellowship of a child until the end. Few men were more genuine, genial and companionable.

Mr. Curtis was a Baptist, but it required the more roomy Christian Church for the funeral services, which were held Wednesday afternoon, Rev. N. O. Rogers, assisted by Rev. J. Tilden Sapp, officiating. Washington Commandery No. 2, of Atchison, and Troy Lodge No. 55, A. F. and A. M. participated in the funeral and members of the G. A. R. and the American Legion attended.

From the Atchison Globe: While for only a few of his 81 years was he actually a resident of Atchison, he was widely known here, and was greatly beloved by local men who had fished and hunted with him. Generally his companions on these trips were younger men, and they held Mr. Curtis in a sort of reverence, for he was one of the most companionable of men...

Ben Curtis was a life-long Republican, and took an active part in political affairs. He was a member of Severance Post, No. 391, Grand Army of the Republic, and was prominent in Masonic circles. He attained the Knights Templar degree and was affiliated with Abdallah Temple, Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Curtis was married to Miss Mary Eliza Ashcraft July 23, 1865, at Doniphan. Mrs. Curtis survives him. Their children are Mrs. Anna Tate [Tait], St. Joseph; Mrs. William Maynard, Cologne, S.D.; Mrs J. Thayer, Stromberg, Neb.; Mrs. A.W. Toole, St. Joseph; Mrs C.H. Allison, Chicago; Mrs E.A.[sic] Williamson, Troy."

From a local newspaper clipping: "It can't be possible! Writing from Troy, Ben Curtis states that at Walker, Minn., he actually got tired of fishing, and that he is glad to be home again [in] Troy. Think of Ben Curtis becoming tired of fishing! What's got into that man?"