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Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa - "The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2"

S.R. Calthrop - "A Lecture on Physical Development, and its Relations to Mental and Spiritual Development, delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, at their Twenty Ninth Annual Meeting, in Norwich, Conn., August 20, 1858"

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Camp Fire and Cotton Field by Thomas W. Knox

T >> Thomas W. Knox >> Camp Fire and Cotton Field




After the first attack upon Vicksburg, in June, 1862, the Rebels
strengthened the approaches in the rear of the city. They threw up
defensive works on the line of bluffs facing the Yazoo, and erected a
strong fortification to prevent our boats ascending that stream. Just
before General Sherman commenced his assault, the gun-boat _Benton_,
aided by another iron-clad, attempted to silence the batteries at
Haines's Bluff, but was unsuccessful. Her sides were perforated by
the Rebel projectiles, and she withdrew from the attack in a disabled
condition. Captain Gwin, her commander, was mortally wounded early in
the fight.

Captain Gwin was married but a few weeks before this occurrence. His
young wife was on her way from the East to visit him, and was met at
Cairo with the news of his death.

About two months before the time of our attack, an expedition
descended the Mississippi from Helena, and suddenly appeared near the
mouth of the Yazoo. It reached Milliken's Bend at night, surprising
and capturing the steamer _Fairplay_, which was loaded with arms and
ammunition for the Rebels in Arkansas. So quietly was the capture
made, that the officers of the _Fairplay_ were not aware of the change
in their situation until awakened by their captors.




CHAPTER XXV.

BEFORE VICKSBURG.

Capture of Arkansas Post.--The Army returns to Milliken's
Bend.--General Sherman and the Journalists.--Arrest of the
Author.--His Trial before a Military Court.--Letter from President
Lincoln.--Capture of Three Journalists.


The army moved against Arkansas Post, which was captured, with its
entire garrison of five thousand men. The fort was dismantled and the
earth-works leveled to the ground. After this was accomplished, the
army returned to Milliken's Bend. General Grant arrived a few days
later, and commenced the operations which culminated in the fall of
Vicksburg.

Before leaving Memphis on the Yazoo expedition, General Sherman issued
an order excluding all civilians, except such as were connected with
the transports, and threatening to treat as a spy any person who
should write accounts for publication which might give information
to the enemy. No journalists were to be allowed to take part in the
affair. One who applied for permission to go in his professional
capacity received a very positive refusal. General Sherman had a
strong antipathy to journalists, amounting almost to a mania, and he
was determined to discourage their presence in his movements against
Vicksburg.

Five or six correspondents accompanied the expedition, some of them
on passes from General Grant, which were believed superior to General
Sherman's order, and others with passes or invitations from officers
in the expedition. I carried a pass from General Grant, and had a
personal invitation from an officer who held a prominent command in
the Army of Arkansas. I had passed Memphis, almost without stopping,
and was not aware of the existence of the prohibitory order until I
reached the Yazoo.

I wrote for _The Herald_ an account of the battle, which I directed to
a friend at Cairo, and placed in the mail on board the head-quarters'
boat. The day after mailing my letter, I learned it was being read at
General Sherman's head-quarters. The General afterward told me that
his mail-agent, Colonel Markland, took my letter, among others, from
the mail, with his full assent, though without his order.

I proceeded to rewrite my account, determined not to trust again to
the head-quarters' mail. When I was about ready to depart, I received
the letter which had been stolen, bearing evident marks of repeated
perusal. Two maps which it originally contained were not returned. I
proceeded to Cairo as the bearer of my own dispatches.

On my return to Milliken's Bend, two weeks later, I experienced a new
sensation. After two interviews with the indignant general, I received
a tender of hospitalities from the provost-marshal of the Army of the
Tennessee. The tender was made in such form as left no opportunity
for declining it. A few days after my arrest, I was honored by a
trial before a military court, consisting of a brigadier-general,
four colonels, and two majors. General Sherman had made the following
charges against me:--

First.--"_Giving information to the enemy._"

Second.--"_Being a spy._"

Third.--"_Disobedience of orders._"

The first and second charges were based on my published letter.
The third declared that I accompanied the expedition without proper
authority, and published a letter without official sanction. These
were my alleged offenses.

My court had a protracted session. It decided there was nothing in
my letter which violated the provisions of the order regulating war
correspondence for the Press. It declared me innocent of the first
and second charges. It could see nothing criminal in the manner of my
accompanying the expedition.

But I was guilty of something. There was a "General Order, Number 67,"
issued in 1861, of whose existence neither myself nor, as far as I
could ascertain, any other journalist, was aware. It provided that no
person should write, print, or cause to be printed "any information
respecting military movements, without the authority and sanction of
the general in command."

Here was the rock on which I split. I had written a letter respecting
military movements, and caused it to be printed, "without the sanction
of the general in command." Correspondents everywhere had done the
same thing, and continued to do it till the end of the war. "Order
Number 67" was as obsolete as the laws of the Medes and Persians, save
on that single occasion. Dispatches by telegraph passed under the eye
of a Government censor, but I never heard of an instance wherein a
letter transmitted by mail received any official sanction.

My court was composed of officers from General Sherman's command,
and was carefully watched by that distinguished military chieftain,
throughout its whole sitting. It wavered in deciding upon the proper
"punishment" for my offense. Should it banish me from that spot, or
should I receive an official censure? It concluded to send me outside
the limits of the Army of the Tennessee.

During the days I passed in the care of the provost-marshal, I perused
all the novels that the region afforded. When these were ended, I
studied a copy of a well-known work on theology, and turned, for light
reading, to the "Pirate's Own Book." A sympathizing friend sent me a
bundle of tracts and a copy of the "Adventures of John A. Murrell."
A volume of lectures upon temperance and a dozen bottles of Allsop's
pale ale, were among the most welcome contributions that I received.
The ale disappeared before the lectures had been thoroughly digested.

The chambermaid of the steamboat displayed the greatest sympathy in my
behalf. She declined to receive payment of a washing-bill, and burst
into tears when I assured her the money was of no use to me.

Her fears for my welfare were caused by a frightful story that had
been told her by a cabin-boy. He maliciously represented that I was
to be executed for attempting to purchase cotton from a Rebel
quartermaster. The verdant woman believed the story for several days.

It may interest some readers to know that the proceedings of a
court-martial are made in writing. The judge-advocate (who holds the
same position as the prosecuting attorney in a civil case) writes his
questions, and then reads them aloud. The answers, as they are given,
are reduced to writing. The questions or objections of the prisoner's
counsel must be made in writing and given to the judge-advocate, to be
read to the court. In trials where a large number of witnesses must be
examined, it is now the custom to make use of "short-hand" writers. In
this way the length of a trial is greatly reduced.

The members of a court-martial sit in full uniform, including sash and
sword, and preserve a most severe and becoming dignity. Whenever the
court wishes to deliberate upon any point of law or evidence, the
room is cleared, neither the prisoner nor his counsel being allowed to
remain. It frequently occurs that the court is thus closed during the
greater part of its sessions. With the necessity for recording all
its proceedings, and frequent stoppages for deliberation, a trial by a
military court is ordinarily very slow.

In obedience to the order of the court, I left the vicinity of the
Army of the Tennessee, and proceeded North.

In departing from Young's Point, I could not obey a certain Scriptural
injunction, as the mud of Louisiana adheres like glue, and defies all
efforts to shake it off. Mr. Albert D. Richardson, of The Tribune,
on behalf of many of my professional friends, called the attention
of President Lincoln to the little affair between General Sherman and
myself.

In his recently published book of experiences during the war, Mr.
Richardson has given a full and graphic account of his interview with
the President. Mr. Lincoln unbent himself from his official cares,
told two of his best stories, conversed for an hour or more upon
the military situation, gave his reasons for the removal of General
McClellan, and expressed his hope in our ultimate success. Declaring
it his inflexible determination not to interfere with the conduct of
any military department, he wrote the following document:--

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, _March_ 20, 1863.

WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Whereas it appears to my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a
correspondent of _The New York Herald_, has been, by the sentence of a
court-martial, excluded from the Military Department under command of
Major-General Grant, and also that General Thayer, president of
the court-martial, which rendered the sentence, and Major-General
McClernand, in command of a corps of that department, and many other
respectable persons, are of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was
technical, rather than willfully wrong, and that the sentence should
be revoked: Now, therefore, said sentence is hereby so far revoked
as to allow Mr. Knox to return to General Grant's head-quarters, to
remain if General Grant shall give his express assent; and to again
leave the department, if General Grant shall refuse such assent.

A. LINCOLN


With this letter I returned to the army. General Grant referred the
question to General Sherman. In consideration of our quarrel, and
knowing the unamiable character of the latter officer, I should have
been greatly surprised had he given any thing else than a refusal. I
had fully expected to return immediately when I left St. Louis, but,
like most persons in a controversy, wished to carry my point.

General Sherman long since retrieved his failure at Chickasaw Bayou.
Throughout the war he was honored with the confidence and friendship
of General Grant. The career of these officers was not marked by the
jealousies that are too frequent in military life. The hero of the
campaign from Chattanooga to Raleigh is destined to be known in
history. In those successful marches, and in the victories won by his
tireless and never vanquished army, he has gained a reputation that
may well be enduring.

Soon after my return from Young's Point, General Grant crossed the
Mississippi at Grand Gulf, and made his daring and successful movement
to attain the rear of Vicksburg. Starting with a force less than
the one his opponent could bring against him, he cut loose from his
communications and succeeded in severing the enemy's line of supplies.
From Grand Gulf to Jackson, and from Jackson to the rear of Vicksburg,
was a series of brilliant marches and brilliant victories. Once seated
where he had his antagonist's army inclosed, General Grant opened his
lines to the Yazoo, supplied himself with every thing desired, and
pressed the siege at his leisure. With the fall of Vicksburg, and the
fall, a few days later, of Port Hudson, "the Father of Waters went
unvexed to the Sea."

While the army was crossing the Mississippi at Grand Gulf, three
well-known journalists, Albert D. Richardson and Junius H. Browne, of
_The Tribune_, and Richard T. Colburn, of _The World_, attempted to
run past the Rebel batteries at Vicksburg, on board a tug at midnight.
The tug was blown up and destroyed; the journalists were captured and
taken to the Rebel prison at Vicksburg. Thence they were removed to
Richmond, occupying, while _en route_, the prisons of a half-dozen
Rebel cities. Mr. Colburn was soon released, but the companions of his
adventure were destined to pass nearly two years in the prisons of
the Confederacy. By a fortunate escape and a midwinter march of nearly
four hundred miles, they reached our lines in safety. In books and in
lecture-rooms, they have since told the story of their captivity and
flight.

I have sometimes thought my little quarrel with General Sherman proved
"a blessing in disguise," in saving me from a similar experience of
twenty months in Rebel prisons.




CHAPTER XXVI.

KANSAS IN WAR-TIME.

A Visit to Kansas.--Recollections of Border Feuds.--Peculiarities
of Kansas Soldiers.--Foraging as a Fine Art.--Kansas and
Missouri.--Settling Old Scores.--Depopulating the Border
Counties.--Two Examples of Grand Strategy.--Capture of the
"Little-More-Grape" Battery.--A Woman in Sorrow.--Frontier
Justice.--Trial before a "Lynch" Court.--General Blunt's
Order.--Execution of Horse-Thieves.--Auction Sale of Confiscated
Property.--Banished to Dixie.


In May, 1863, I made a hasty visit to Western Missouri and Kansas, to
observe the effect of the war in that quarter. Seven years earlier the
border warfare attracted much attention. The great Rebellion caused
Kansas and its troubles to sink into insignificance. Since the first
election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, Kansas has been rarely
mentioned.

I passed through this young State in the summer of 1860. I was
repeatedly told: "We have old grudges that we wish to settle; if the
troubles ever break out again in any part of the United States, we
hope to cross out our account." When the war opened, the people
of Kansas saw their opportunity for "making square work," as they
expressed it, with Missouri and the other slave States. They placed
two regiments of volunteers in the field with as much celerity as
was displayed in many of the older and more populous States. These
regiments were followed by others until fully half the able-bodied
population of Kansas was in the service. In some localities the
proportion was even greater than this.

The dash and daring of these Kansas soldiers became proverbial. At
Wilson Creek, two regiments from Kansas had their first experience of
battle, and bore themselves most nobly. The conduct of other Kansas
soldiers, on other battle-fields, was equally commendable. Their
bravery and endurance was only equaled by their ability in foraging.

Horses, mules, cattle, and provisions have, in all times, been
considered the legitimate spoils of war. The Kansas soldiers did not
confine themselves to the above, but appropriated every thing portable
and valuable, whether useful or useless. Their example was contagious,
and the entire army soon learned to follow it.

During General Grant's campaign in Mississippi in '62, the Seventh
Kansas Cavalry obtained a reputation for ubiquity and lawlessness.
Every man who engaged in plundering on his own account, no matter to
what regiment he belonged, invariably announced himself a member
of the Seventh Kansas. Every countryman who was robbed declared the
robbery was committed by the Seventh Kansas "Jayhawkers." Uniting all
the stories of robbery, one would conclude that the Seventh Kansas
was about twenty thousand strong, and constantly in motion by fifty
different roads, leading to all points of the compass.

One day a soldier of the Second Illinois Cavalry gave me an account of
his experience in horse-stealing.

"Jim and I went to an old farmer's house, and told him we wanted his
horses. He said he wanted to use them himself, and couldn't spare
them.

"'That don't make no sort of difference,' said I; 'we want your horses
more than you do.'

"'What regiment do you belong to?'

"'Seventh Kansas Jayhawkers. The whole regiment talks of coming round
here. I reckon I'll bring them.'

"When I told him that," said the soldier, "he said I might take the
horses, if I would only go away. He offered me a pint of whisky if I
would promise not to bring the regiment there. Jim and me drank the
whisky, and told him we would use our influence for him."

Before the war was ended, the entire armies of the Southwest were able
to equal the "Jayhawkers" in foraging. The march of Sherman's column
through Mississippi, and afterward through Georgia and South Carolina,
fully proved this. Particularly in the latter State, which originated
the Rebellion, were the accomplishments of the foragers most
conspicuously displayed. Our army left very little for another army to
use.

The desolation which was spread through the Southern States was among
the most effective blows at the Rebellion. The Rebels were taught in
the most practical manner, that insurrection was not to be indulged
in with impunity. Those who suffered most were generally among the
earliest to sue for peace. Sherman's terse answer to the mayor of
Atlanta, when the latter protested against the banishment of the
inhabitants, was appreciated by the Rebels after our final campaigns.
"War is cruelty--you cannot refine it," speaks a volume in a few
words.

When hostilities commenced, the Kansas regiments were clamorous to be
led into Missouri. During the border war of '55 and '56, Missourians
invaded Kansas to control the elections by force of arms, and killed,
often in cold blood, many of the quiet citizens of the Territory. The
tier of counties in Missouri adjoining Kansas were most anxious
to make the latter a slave State, and used every possible means to
accomplish their object.

The Kansas soldiers had their wish. They marched through Missouri.
Those who had taken part in the outrages upon Kansas, five years
earlier, were made to feel the hand of retribution. If they had burned
the buildings of free-State settlers in '56, they found their own
houses destroyed in '62. In the old troubles they contended for their
right to make whatever warfare they chose, but were astounded and
horrified in the latter days, when the tables were turned against them
by those they had wronged.

Along the frontier of Missouri the old system of warfare was revived.
Guerrilla bands were formed, of which Quantrel and similar men
were the leaders. Various incursions were made into Kansas by these
marauders, and the depredations were worse than ever.

They culminated in the burning of Lawrence and the massacre of its
inhabitants.

To break up these guerrilla bands, it became necessary to depopulate
the western tier of counties in Missouri, from the Missouri River down
to the thirty-eighth parallel of latitude. The most wealthy of these
was Jackson County. Before the war it had a slave population of not
far from four thousand, and its fields were highly productive. Two
years after the war broke out it contained less than three hundred
slaves, and its wealth had diminished in almost as great proportion.
This was before any freedom had been officially declared to the
slaves in the Border States. The order of depopulation had the desired
effect. It brought peace to the border, though at a terrible cost.
Missouri suffered greatly, and so did Kansas.

The most prominent officer that Kansas furnished during the Rebellion,
was Brigadier-General Blunt. At the beginning of the war he enlisted
as a private soldier, but did not remain long in the ranks. His
reputation in the field was that of a brave and reckless officer,
who had little regard to military forms. His successes were due to
audacity and daring, rather than to skill in handling troops, or a
knowledge of scientific warfare.

The battle of Cane Hill is said to have commenced by General Blunt and
his orderlies attacking a Rebel picket. The general was surveying the
country with his orderlies and a company of cavalry, not suspecting
the enemy was as near as he proved to be.

At the moment Blunt came upon the picket, the cavalry was looking in
another direction. Firing began, and the picket was driven in and fell
back to a piece of artillery, which had an infantry support. Blunt was
joined by his cavalry, and the gun was taken by a vigorous charge and
turned upon the Rebels. The latter were kept at bay until the main
force was brought up and joined in the conflict. The Rebels believed
we had a much larger number than we really possessed, else our first
assault might have proved a sudden repulse. The same daring was kept
up throughout the battle, and gave us the victory.

At this battle we captured four guns, two of which bore a history of
more than ordinary interest. They were of the old "Bragg's Battery"
that turned the scale at Buena Vista, in obedience to General Taylor's
mandate, "Give them a little more grape, captain." After the Mexican
war they were sent to the United States Arsenal at Baton Rouge, whence
they were stolen when the insurrection commenced. They were used
against us at Wilson Creek and Pea Ridge.

At another battle, whose name I have forgotten, our entire force of
about two thousand men was deployed into a skirmish line that extended
far beyond the enemy's flanks. The Rebels were nearly six thousand
strong, and at first manifested a disposition to stand their ground.
By the audacity of our stratagem they were completely deceived. So
large a skirmish line was an indication of a proportionately strong
force to support it. When they found us closing in upon their flanks,
they concluded we were far superior in numbers, and certain to
overwhelm them. With but slight resistance they fled the field,
leaving much of their transportation and equipments to fall into
our hands. We called in our skirmishers and pressed them in vigorous
pursuit, capturing wagons and stragglers as we moved.

A year after this occurrence the Rebels played the same trick upon our
own forces near Fort Smith, Arkansas, and were successful in driving
us before them. With about five hundred cavalry they formed a skirmish
line that outflanked our force of two thousand. We fell back several
miles to the protection of the fort, where we awaited attack. It is
needless to say that no assault was made.

Van Buren, Arkansas, was captured by eighteen men ten miles in advance
of any support. This little force moved upon the town in a deployed
line and entered at one side, while a Rebel regiment moved out at the
other. Our men thought it judicious not to pursue, but established
head-quarters, and sent a messenger to hurry up the column before
the Rebels should discover the true state of affairs. The head of the
column was five hours in making its appearance.

When the circumstance became known the next day, one of our officers
found a lady crying very bitterly, and asked what calamity had
befallen her.

As soon as she could speak she said, through her sobs:

"I am not crying because you have captured the place. We expected
that." Then came a fresh outburst of grief.

"What _are_ you crying for, then?" asked the officer.

"I am crying because you took it with only eighteen men, when we had a
thousand that ran away from you!"

The officer thought the reason for her sorrow was amply sufficient,
and allowed her to proceed with her weeping.

On the day of my arrival at Atchison there was more than ordinary
excitement. For several months there had been much disregard of
law outside of the most densely populated portions of the State.
Robberies, and murders for the sake of robbery, were of frequent
occurrence. In one week a dozen persons met violent deaths. A citizen
remarked to me that he did not consider the times a great improvement
over '55 and '56.

Ten days before my arrival, a party of ruffians visited the house of a
citizen about twelve miles from Atchison, for the purpose of
robbery. The man was supposed to have several hundred dollars in his
possession--the proceeds of a sale of stock. He had placed his funds
in a bank at Leavenworth; but his visitors refused to believe his
statement to that effect. They maltreated the farmer and his wife,
and ended by hanging the farmer's son to a rafter and leaving him for
dead. In departing, they took away all the horses and mules they could
find.

Five of these men were arrested on the following day, and taken
to Atchison. The judge before whom they were brought ordered them
committed for trial. On the way from the court-house to the jail the
men were taken from the sheriff by a crowd of citizens. Instead of
going to jail, they were carried to a grove near the town and placed
on trial before a "Lynch" court. The trial was conducted with all
solemnity, and with every display of impartiality to the accused. The
jury decided that two of the prisoners, who had been most prominent
in the outrage, should be hanged on that day, while the others
were remanded to jail for a regular trial. One of the condemned was
executed. The other, after having a rope around his neck, was respited
and taken to jail.