The author of this book says in the Preface, "I did not pretend to write history, which tells of kings, presidents, and great captains, but only of modest soldiers, Federal and Confederate, and of plain country people who bore muskets and dug ditches. I will tell of no great battles, and only how soldiers fought, talked, lived, and died as scouts. I will tell of the loves and hates of the country people, and of their habits, churches, homes, and modes of living and thinking when overshadowed by war's actual presence." From the Camp Fire was originally published in 1881, and this reprint has additional illustrations and annotations, with the original text carefully preserved. A periodical of the period in which it was first published, the "National View," said, "the raciest, richest stories, told of men and events of the war period about Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, are contained in DuPre's book. Its descriptions of scenery and people and modes of life in East Tennessee, Northern Georgia, and Alabama, and of the morals and manner of thinking of the people and soldiers of the South, and of the relation of these to the Negroes, are indescribably attractive. The adventures and desperate deeds of 'Rebel' scouts and of 'Bushwhackers,' (native fighting Unionists) constitute fascinating chapters in this unique volume.".