CAMP-FIRE AND COTTON-FIELD: SOUTHERN ADVENTURE IN TIME OF WAR. LIFE WITH THE UNION ARMIES, AND RESIDENCE ON A LOUISIANA PLANTATION. BY THOMAS W. KNOX, HERALD CORRESPONDENT. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 1865. TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PRESS, WHO FOLLOWED THE FORTUNES OF THE NATIONAL ARMIES, AND RECORDED THE DEEDS OF VALOR THAT SECURED THE PERPETUITY OF THE REPUBLIC, THIS VOLUME IS SYMPATHETICALLY INSCRIBED. [Illustration: THE REBEL RAM ARKANSAS RUNNING THROUGH OUR FLEET.] TO THE READER. A preface usually takes the form of an apology. The author of this volume has none to offer. The book owes its appearance to its discovery of a publisher. It has been prepared from materials gathered during the Campaigns herein recorded, and from the writer's personal recollections. Whatever of merit or demerit it possesses remains for the reader to ascertain. His judgment will be unprejudiced if he finds no word of promise on the prefatory page. NEW YORK, _September 15th, 1865_. ILLUSTRATIONS. THE RAM _Arkansas_ RUNNING THROUGH OUR FLEET ABOVE VICKSBURG HAULING DOWN A REBEL FLAG AT HICKMAN, KENTUCKY THE OPENING GUN AT BOONEVILLE THE DEATH OF GENERAL LYON GENERAL SIGEL'S TRANSPORTATION IN MISSOURI SHELLING THE HILL AT PEA RIDGE GENERAL NELSON'S DIVISION CROSSING THE TENNESSEE RUNNING THE BATTERIES AT ISLAND NUMBER TEN THE REBEL CHARGE AT CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI ASSAULTING THE HILL AT CHICKASAW BAYOU STRATEGY AGAINST GUERRILLAS THE STEAMER _Von Phul_ RUNNING THE BATTERIES CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ANTE BELLUM. At the Rocky Mountains.--Sentiment of the People.--Firing the Southern Heart.--A Midwinter Journey across the Plains.--An Editor's Opinion.--Election in Missouri.--The North springing to Arms.--An amusing Arrest.--Off for the Field.--Final Instructions.--Niagara.--Curiosities of Banking.--Arrival at the Seat of War. CHAPTER II. MISSOURI IN THE EARLY DAYS. Apathy of the Border States.--The Missouri State Convention.--Sterling Price a Union Man.--Plan to take the State out of the Union.--Capture of Camp Jackson.--Energy of General Lyon.--Union Men organized.--An Unfortunate Collision.--The Price-Harney Truce.--The Panic among the Secessionists.--Their Hegira from St. Louis.--A Visit to the State Capital.--Under the Rebel Flag.--Searching for Contraband Articles.--An Introduction to Rebel Dignitaries.--Governor Jackson.--Sterling Price.--Jeff. Thompson.--Activity at Cairo.--Kentucky Neutrality.--The Rebels occupy Columbus. CHAPTER III. THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES. General Harney Relieved.--Price's Proclamation.--End of the Truce.--Conference between the Union and Rebel Leaders.--The First Act of Hostility.--Destruction of Railway Bridges.--Promptness of General Lyon.--Capture of the State Capital.--Moving on the Enemy's Works.--The Night before Battle.--A Correspondent's Sensation. CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST BATTLE IN MISSOURI.