The following brief article, originally appearing in the Anderson [S.C.] Gazette, appeared in the Lancaster [S.C.] Ledger, 1 Oct 1856, p. 2, c. 7:

"We ahve been permitted to make an extract form a private letter from our late townsman, Warren D. Wilkes, to his brother, Gen. S. M. Wilkes. The letter reads thus:

'Leavenworth City, September 3.

Dear Sam: On Sunday, the 24th ult., I landed here with 53 men, after a tedious and vexatious journey of three weeks. Two hours after landing I took the field, for there is a fearful war raging here. For ten days I have been in my saddle day and night, and to night, for the first time, have returned here. My stay is short, for in two hours I must be in my saddle, and away to camp, for I am acting Adjutant General of all the force North of Kansas river. On Monday last, there was a bloody fight in this town, and some killed on both sides; now the city is under martial law, stores shut up and every one terror-struck -- hundreds of Freesoilers have been shipped. Civil war is raging, and I have seen men with their heads blown open and left unburied on the road. This is the true condition of Kansas now.

The outrages you have seen reported as committed by Lane, are true in the main. He is well fortified in Lawrence, with a strong force, and will make a desparate fight. By Monday, the 7th, we will have some three thousand men in the field, and will move against him. The fight will probably come off on Wednesday or Thursday, the 9th or 10th instant. Some days ago a poriton of our and Lane's forces fought at Ossawattomie; our men routed them, killed and wounded 43, and had only three men slightly wounded. There is a report of another battle, but we have not heard certainly.

Rice, Stansell, Webb, Marony and Gen. [A.C.] Jones are in camp, and are well.'

N. B. When the term "our town" is used in the first paragraph, it refers to Anderson, not Lancaster. No known copies of the Anderson Gazette for this period are known to exist. Wilkes had come to Kansas in the spring, returned to S.C. to raise funds and men, and returned in mid-August.