1.  While the officers and men of the 1^st Kansas Colored Volunteers were eating lunch, the enemy set fire to the prairie grass. The rebels used the concealment provided by the fire’s smoke to drive Seaman’s pickets and attached scouts back into camp. The strong southerly winds soon fanned the flames into a large prairie fire that swept towards "Fort Africa." A backfire was set around the fort to keep the conflagration from engulfing the defenses. His vision to the south obscured by smoke, Captain Seaman became concerned that the enemy might take this opportunity to stage a general attack upon the camp.