Thomas Wallace Knox was a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, and world travel

Travel

Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...

er, known primarily for his work as a New York Herald

New York Herald

The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

correspondent during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. As an author, Knox wrote over 45 books, including a popular series of travel adventure books for boys.

Knox was well known for his written attacks on William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...

 and his Union soldiers, which reintroduced into the public debate the issue of Sherman's sanity, and also was controversial for its publishing of important information pertaining to the Vicksburg Campaign

Vicksburg Campaign

The Vicksburg Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen....

. Knox was acquitted on spy charges but found guilty of disobeying orders.

Biography

Knox grew up in Pembroke, New Hampshire

Pembroke, New Hampshire

Pembroke is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,115 at the 2010 census. Pembroke includes part of the village of Suncook. The center of population of New Hampshire is located in Pembroke.- History :...

, and became a teacher, founding an academy in Kingston, New York

Kingston, New York

Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...

. In 1860, at the age of 25, Knox headed west to take part in the gold rush

Gold mining in Colorado

On 1859-05-06, John H. Gregory found a gold-bearing vein in Gregory Gulch between Black Hawk and Central City. Within two months many other veins were discovered, including the Bates, Gunnell, Kansas, and Burroughs...

. He soon latched on with the Denver Daily News

Denver Daily News

The Denver Daily News is a former free daily newspaper in Denver, Colorado. At the time of its closure on June 6, 2011, It distributed 25,500 copies Monday-Friday in stores, coffee shops, restaurants and workplaces. Copies could also be found in the Daily's distinctive blue boxes.Assuming a...

.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Knox enlisted in the California National Guard

California National Guard

The California National Guard is the component of the United States National Guard in the U.S. state of California. It comprises both Army and Air National Guard components and is the largest national guard force in the United States with a total authorized strength of 22,900 soldiers and airmen...

, where he was made a lieutenant colonel. He was wounded in Missouri skirmish, and subsequently discharged. At that point, Knox returned to journalism, as a correspondent for the New York Herald

New York Herald

The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

. He soon ran afoul of Sherman.

After the war, Knox traveled the world widely, at first with the Russo-American Telegraph Company. These experiences led to more travels and then books for adults and children.

Knox never married. From the 1880s onward, when not traveling abroad, he lived at the Lotos Club

Lotos Club

The Lotos Club is a gentleman's club in New York City. Founded in 1870 by a young group of writers and critics, Mark Twain, an early member, called it the "Ace of Clubs"...

 in Manhattan and spent his summers at the Olympic Club in Bay Shore, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. Knox died at the Lotos Club in January of 1896, shortly after returning from the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

.

Memberships

• Lotos Club
  Lotos Club
  The Lotos Club is a gentleman's club in New York City. Founded in 1870 by a young group of writers and critics, Mark Twain, an early member, called it the "Ace of Clubs"...
  
   — Knox was Club secretary from 1880 to 1889
• Union League Club of New York
  Union League Club of New York
  The Union League Club of New York is a private social club in New York City. Its fourth and current clubhouse, which opened on February 2, 1931, is a building designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, III, located at 38 East 37th Street between Madison and Park Avenue in the Murray Hill section of...
  
  
• Authors' Club
• Olympic Club

Selected bibliography

• Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field: Southern Adventure in Time of War, Life with the Union Armies, and Residence on a Louisiana Plantation (1865)
• Overland Through Asia: Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tatar Life (1870)
• Backsheesh! or Life and Adventures in the Orient (1875)
• Decisive Battles Since Waterloo. The Most Important Military Events from 1815 to 1887 (1887)
• The Boy Travelers series (20 books)
  • The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part First: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan & China (New York: Harper, 1879)
  • The Boy Travelers in the Far East, Part Fourth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and the Holy Land (Harper & Bros., 1882)
  • The Boy Travelers in the Congo: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey with Henry M. Stanley "Through the Dark Continent" (1887)

External links

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