The following letter appeared in the Edgefield [S.C.] Advertiser, 2 July 1856, p. 2, c. 7:
"Wets [as printed] Point, Mo., June 14th, 1856
Mr. Editor: I have just returned from a trip of a weeks duration.
A body of 300 mounted men proceded to Prairie City, to rescue Capt. Pate and his company, who had been taken prisoners by the Law Breakers; Capt. P. had had a fight of several hours with a superior force, and at last was taken prisoner -- amongst his men was one of mine, named Lambert -- a Printer by trade. He was shot through the right shoulder by a Sharp's Rifle ball, and wounded very severely. However, he loaded and fired 6 times after being wounded; then, finding they were about to become prisoners, he mounted a horse and made his escape, while the whistle of bullets around told him that he had drawn the whole fire upon him. His horse threw him several times and at alst left him on the prairie, weak from loss of blood. A wagon passing near picked him up and carried him to a place of safety; he is hee now and doing as well as can be expected.
On our arrival at Prairie City, we found the U. S. Troops were ahead of us, and had liberated the prisoners; we were disappointed, as we had expected a fight, the abolitionists being strong. I had command of a company of sharp shooters, every man with a Sharp's rifle. We were to open the fight, but 'twas "no go." Col. [Edvin V.] Sumner (no relative to Gutta Percha [Senator] Sumner ordered us to disband, and we took the back track for home; but the next morning branched off to the right, and that afternoon we visited the head-quarters of the abolitionists on the Pottawasimie. But the scamps who had recently killed 8 pro-slavery men in this neighborhood, in the dead of night, could not face the music, and at the first sight of the "revengers" they ingloriously fled. We secured their rifles and destroyed their pressw, and then returned.
Capt. Shelby, with a company of 50 men, left here last week to locate a town in the neighborhood of Prairie City. That place being the head-quarters of the abolitionists -- they went armed for the purpose of defending themselves. They arrived within 2 miles of the palce, when they were ordered out of the Territory , by Col. Sumner, with the threat that if they returned their arms would be taken away. The troops (U. S.) are now encamped within a mile of this place to stop all Southern companies form entering the Territory, if armed. They can go in small squads unarmed, if they are fool hardy enough to risk their lives.
Gen. [A. C.] Jones, of Laurens, with a company of 40 or 50, are encamped about a mile from here on a stand; they know not what to do -- abolitionists can go in as there is not a guard stationed along the line by which they enter. If Sumner and Shannon are not removed, it will be a tight squeeze if we do succeed in making
it a slave State; although the pro-slavery men of the border countries have spent immense sums of money in the cause, and are still doing so. They are about to appeal to the South for aid, and I trust it will not be in vain.
At present every thing is quiet, but it is only the calm before the storm; and it will break when and where cannot be conjectured.
Two thirds of my company are in the Territory. Mostly at Fort Scott; they are doing well.
The Telegraph is so much ahead of letters, that it is hardly necessary for any one to undertake to give "news."
Respectuflly, &c.,
E. B. B. [Bell]
The caning of Senator Sumner by Congressman Brooks, of Edgefield, for insulting his aged cousin, Seantor Butler, also of Edgefield, had brought sectional friction to a fever pitch that summer of 1856, and the local papers were full of references to Brooks' resignation, and offer for re-election at a special election. Brooks had used a gutta percha cane, which he broke over the head and shoulders Sumner, and Southerners had sent literally hundreds of "replacement" canes to Brooks. He was re-elected without opposition that fall, and returned to his seat in the House of Repreesentatives.