Comments-1856, September 9

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   “After a night of sound repose Brother Johnson brought out his well-fed steeds,” wrote Bishop Pierce, “and we rode over the finest farm I think I ever saw. Such a combination of water, timber, prairie, and soil, is rarely met with. Such a herd of cattle! O the milk, butter, and beef! This is the very country for a lazy man, if he is not too lazy to provide in summer for winter. A four months’ diligence will secure the material wherewithal to purchase the privilege of shutting himself up to eat, sleep, and toast the rest of the year.

   “After dinner, the carriages and the mules—which were mules, not in temper but in size—were brought out, and Brother Johnson and his wife, and George and I, took our seats for an evening jaunt upon the prairies….

   “We passed the Quaker mission, and found the premises abandoned, under a threat of Lane’s men to attack and burn the houses. I understood the property would be for sale.

   “lt was our purpose in the course of the ride, to visit the camp of the army, and when we learned its location, we steered for that point. By and by we came in sight of the encampment; and, verily, it was a sight to a green one, who had never seen ‘war’s grim array.’ The tents were pitched on the slope of an open prairie, beside a little stream running at its base. As we rolled along on the ridge, the whole panorama was visible. A thousand horses or more, of all sizes, colors, and conditions, were ‘staked out,’ and left to graze. This staking out is a very simple and convenient arrangement. A rope, from thirty to fifty feet long, is tied around the horse’s neck, and at the other end is a pin of iron or wood, which is driven into the ground, and the horse can crop the grass within a circle, of which the pin is the center and the rope the radius—where the grass is good—ample scope for a night’s feasting.

   “The army was computed to muster twenty-seven hundred men; but they were not yet all come in. The chiefs were waiting to concentrate the ‘host,’ before the descent upon Lawrence. As we drew near, some were maneuvering an old cannon; some were cooking, some lounging in the grass, some inspecting their weapons. Here I was introduced to Generals Atchison, Clarke, and others, Colonel Titus, Sheriff Jones—still lame from his wounds—with other notabilities….

   “We tarried but a short time, as I was anxious to extend my ride into the prairies. On retiring, we ascended a. long hill, and on reaching its summit and looking back, the scene was very picturesque. Forget the facts and circumstances which convened those men, and the object they had in view, and there was much of the beautiful in the vision before me. The white tents, the particolored costumes, red and gray predominating; the tethered horses, the patient oxen, half buried in grass; life in various forms, all cager and in motion; the softened hum of the camp, as it came floating on the prairie wind—all made a life picture, to copy which would make an artist’s fortune. We turned our eyes away to look upon more quiet scenes, the rolling prairies, the yellow flowers, the waving grass, and the silent sky.”