Camp fire stories; a series of sketches of the Union Army in the Southwest
Edward Anderson
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, Sept. 13, 2013)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ... POCAHONTAS. Heart on her lips, and soul within her eyes, Soft as her clime, and sunny as her skies.--Byron. What will not woman, gentle woman, dare When strong affection stirs her spirit up?--Southey. I. T WAS a wild story of the early part of the war in the far southwest, and I got it from the doctor himself, told as only he can spin a yarn. I'm going to let you have it as he related it, though it must be in cold type and without the glorious flash of his eye and the thrill of his deep baritone voice, and the sudden acting out of parts of it that came involuntarily as he became excited in the narration. Our tent was on a gentle slope not far from the Ozark spring in sunny, sultry Arkansas. The winter was giving way to the warmer airs that presaged the opening summer. Mouse-ear leaves were growing deeper and broader, and the white flower of the strawberry was making our hearts glad after our long winter's campaign. Missouri seemed to have been conquered. The Confederates had evacuated Springfield and the state; and we, following them south, had buried some of our men and more of theirs at the last fight with their rear guard beyond Sugar Creek. We were at "Camp Halleck." Below us some fourteen miles lay Fayette, and just beyond, we learned from our scouts, that Price and McCulloch were concentrating their forces for the grand battle that subsequently touched every home in the northwest, and,even now causes a thrill in the hearts of the veterans of the southwest at the name of Pea Ridge. The great army of Gen. Curtis stretched out on the prairie and into the woods, the sun glinting on white tents, flashing from bayonets and gun barrels, reflecting from the eagles and bugles of the soldiers' hats, and showing, here and there, the moving...