Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field; Southern Adventure in Time of War. Life with the Union Armies, and Residence on a Louisiana Plantation Volume 3

by Thomas Wallace Knox

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1865 edition. Excerpt: ...of the battle-ground is spread out before the spectator. In front and at his feet lies the town of Gettysburg, containing, in quiet times, a population of four or five thousand souls. It is not more than a hundred yards to the houses in the edge of the village, where the contest with the Rebel sharp-shooters took place. To the left of the town stretches a long valley, bounded on each side by a gently-sloping ridge. The crest of each ridge is distant nearly a mile from the other. It was on these ridges that the lines of battle on the second and third days were formed, the Rebel line being on the ridge to the westward. The one stretching directly from our left hand, and occupied by our own men, has but little timber upon it, while that held by the rebels can boast of several groves of greater or less extent. In one of these the Pennsylvania College is embowered, while in another is seen the Theological Seminary. Half-way between the ridges are the ruins of a Large brick building burned during the engagement. Dotted about, here and there, are various brick and frame structures. Two miles at our left rises a sharp-pointed elevation, known to the inhabitants of the region as Round Hill. Its sides are wooded, and the forest stretches from its base across the valley to the crest of the western ridge. 280 TRACES OF A SHARP CONTEST. "It must not be supposed that the space between the ridges is an even plain, shaven with the scythe and leveled with the roller. It rises and falls gently, and with little regularity, but in no place is it steep of ascent. Were it not for its ununiformity and for the occasional sprinkling of trees over its surface, it could v be compared to a patch of rolling prairie in. miniature. To the southwest of the further ridge is seen...

Genres: History, Civil War, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2012

Reviews

[Ed Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contemporary Account

A sometimes fascinating, sometimes very dull account of a journalist during the Civil War in the Western Theater. Most interesting were the accounts of the plantation, the freed slaves, and the attitudes of the border state citizens in the early years of the war. If you are a Civil War buff, it’s a good read.