Thomas Wallace Knox
Thomas Wallace Knox (1835-1896) was an influential American writer, educator, and journalist, known for his adventurous spirit and contributions to children's literature. Born in Pembroke, New Hampshire, Knox faced early hardships with the loss of his parents and began his career as a shoemaker before transitioning to teaching. He established Kingston Academy in 1857 and later pursued journalism, relocating to Denver during the gold rush. His involvement in the Civil War as a volunteer and later as a lieutenant colonel allowed him to document significant events, despite facing a court-martial for publishing troop locations, which he successfully appealed to President Abraham Lincoln.
Knox became a prolific author, penning around four dozen books, many of which were fictionalized accounts of his travels designed for young audiences. His works, including titles in the popular Boy Travellers series, blended adventure with factual information, fostering a love for exploration among children. Notably, he received the Order of the White Elephant from the King of Siam for his engaging travel narratives. His innovative approach to telegraphy also contributed to advancements in communication. Knox's legacy reflects his diverse experiences and the impact he had on both literature and education during his lifetime.
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Thomas Wallace Knox
Writer
- Born: June 26, 1835
- Birthplace: Pembroke, New Hampshire
- Died: January 6, 1896
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Thomas Wallace Knox was born June 26, 1835, in Pembroke, New Hampshire, the son of shoemaker Nehemiah and Jane Wallace Knox. Both were to die before their son was six years old. Knox himself was apprentice as a shoemaker at an early age, but also attended private schools in Pembroke and Pittsfield, New Hampshire. After becoming a teacher, he set up Kingston Academy in 1857 in the New Hampshire town of the same name, and subsequently became its headmaster.
In 1860, Knox followed the gold rush to Denver, Colorado, where he worked as a reporter and, eventually, city editor of a local newspaper, The Daily News. A few years later, with the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered as an aide and was wounded in action in Missouri. He then took a commission as a lieutenant colonel with the California National Guard, while at the same time filing war dispatches with the New York Herald. Faced with the problem of transmitting battlefield plans by telegraph, Knox developed a method that he would one day patent. He was court-martialed, however, for publishing information about troop locations, and his sentence was reversed only through a personal appeal to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Knox reworked his Civil War dispatches into his first book, Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field: Southern Adventure in Time of War, Life with the Union Armies, and Residence on a Louisiana Plantation.
Knox ranged widely during the late 1860’s and 1870’s as a newspaper correspondent, in the process becoming one of the most experienced American travelers of his age. His knowledge of telegraphy led to his joining an expedition across Siberia by sledge and wagon for the Russo-American Telegraph Company, a journey he described in his second book, Overland Through Asia: Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life. The year 1875 found him in Dollymount, Ireland, from which he reported the results of an international rifle match. Once again, Knox was able to put his technical knowledge of telegraphy to work, managing to convey the precise array of shots in each target. He later perfected this system of “topographical telegraphy” and sold it to the U.S. government as a means of transmitting weather maps. In 1878, Knox served on the jury of the third Paris World’s Fair.
Knox wrote some four dozen books in all. Some described his own experiences directly and some were biographies, but most were fictionalized travelogues written for young readers, including twenty entries in the Boy Travellers series. He became the first American to receive the Order of the White Elephant from the King of Siam in recognition of an early volume in this series, The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Second: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java, with Descriptions of Cochin-China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the Malay Archipelago. Knox helped establish the popularity of series books for children, producing an appealing if formulaic mixture of adventure, local color, and factual information. He died January 6, 1896, in New York City.