Prairie D'Ane was a large, open grassland of some 5,000 acres and a landmark in southwest Arkansas. It was created through centuries of fires started by natural forces such as lightning strikes and by people, and Native Americans used fire to maintain the prairie as an open hunting ground. Lt. Col. Adolph Dengler of the 43rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry, a veteran of the battle on the prairie, later wrote that it lay like an oasis amid dark forests and almost impassable swamps, offering relief to travelers who had long seen little but rocks crowned by dark pines or gloomy cypress swamp, and that, elevated above the surrounding country, it rose gradually toward its center.