Camp-Fire And Cotton-Field — Thomas W. Knox

A news correspondent's view of the great Civil War in America

When the discontent that grew into Civil War was fomenting, the author of this book, Thomas Knox was covering the Gold Rushes of the Rocky Mountains for his newspaper-the famous New York Herald. His editor made it plain that the news was now in a very different quarter and that brought about his posting to the troubled border of Missouri. Knox brings the inevitable advantage of the professional writer to his reporting of his experiences of campaign and battlefield. He was present at Wilson Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Corinth, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Vicksburg and many other important engagements. This substantial volume also gives a vital account of the conditions prevailing in the Southern states particularly concerning the conditions of the African-American slave labourers on plantations. This makes this book an ideal overview of the conflict from a political and social as well a military perspective.