Produced by Ed Ferris
Transcriber's note:
Footnotes are at the end of each chapter, except at the end of each section in Chapter I. Duplicate notes were on adjacent pages in the book.
Right-hand-page heads are omitted.
Names have been corrected (except possibly "Hurlburt").
LoC call number: E470.K18
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1900
Copyright, 1900
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To the
memory of the dead and as a tribute of esteem to the living officersand soldiers who served immediately with and under the author inbattles and campaigns of the great American rebellion
This Book is Dedicated
The writer of this book was a volunteer officer in the Union armythroughout the war of the Great Rebellion, and his service was inthe field.
The book, having been written while the author was engaged in asomewhat active professional life, lacks that literary finish whichresults from much pruning and painstaking. He, however, offers noexcuse for writing it, nor for its completion; he has presumed tonothing but the privilege of telling his own story in his own way.He has been at no time forgetful of the fact that he was a subordinatein a great conflict, and that other soldiers discharged their dutiesas faithfully as himself; and while no special favors are asked,he nevertheless opes that what he has written may be accepted asthe testimony of one who entertains a justifiable pride in havingbeen connected with large armies and a participant in importantcampaigns and great battles.
He flatters himself that his summary of the political history ofslavery in the United States, and of the important political eventsoccurring upon the firing on Fort Sumter, and the account he hasgiven of the several attempts to negotiate a peace before the finaloverthrow of the Confederate armies, will be of special interestto students of American history.
Slavery bred the doctrine of State-rights, which led, inevitably,to secession and rebellion. The story of slavery and its abolitionin the United States is the most tragic one in the world's annals.The "Confederate States of America" is the only government everattempted to be formed, avowedly to perpetuate human slavery.A history of the Rebellion without that of slavery is but a recitalof brave deeds without reference to the motive which prompted theirperformance.
The chapter on slavery narrates its history in the United Statesfrom the earliest times; its status prior to the war; its effecton political parties and statesmen; its aggressions, and attemptsat universal domination if not extension over the whole Republic;its inexorable demands on the friends of freedom, and its plan ofperpetually establishing itself