The men of Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York were passing westward in swarms like feeding pigeons.
Illinois and Iowa were filling up, and men from Kentucky were passing north across the Ohio.

The great rivers of the West were then leading out their thousands of settlers.

Presently I was to see those great trains of white-topped west-bound wagons which at that time made a distinguishing feature of American life.
At this Army post, which then was used as a drilling ground for the cavalry arm, one caught the full flavor of the Western lands, heard the talk of officers who had been beyond the frontier, and saw troops passing out for the Western service.

Here I heard also, and to my consternation, quiet conversation among some of the officers, regarding affairs at our National capital.

Buchanan, it seems, was shipping arms and ordnance and supplies to all the posts in the South.