The Conway Farewell Party

James Sevier Conway, first Governor of Arkansas, and his wife Mary Jane Bradley Conway hosted a ball and reception at Walnut Hill, their Lafayette County plantation, as the Arkansas troops began their journey to Mexico to fight in the war. Albert Pike, Archibald Yell, Charles Pelham, and James F. Fagan were some of the soldiers who attended this event. According to former Arkansas First Lady Anne McMath, the Conways served a huge feast for friends and soldiers, setting fine china, silver, and crystal on a damask-covered 50-yard plank table set up on their lawn. The menu included roast pork, turkey, wild game, fruits and vegetables, “salt-rising bread, bowls of ambrosia, soufflé, syllabub, and hot biscuits.”