THE WAR WITH THE SOUTH A HISTORY OF THE LATE REBELLION WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LEADING STATESMEN AND DISTINGUISHED NAVAL AND MILITARY COMMANDERS, ETC. BY ROBERT TOMES, M.D. CONTINUED FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1864 TO THE END OF THE WAR Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-two, BY ROBERT TOMES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE.. WHEN the first numbers of this work were issued, nothing appeared more certain than that the civil war, the history of which it was intended faithfully to record, would be of short duration, and that a single volume would be amply sufficient to comprise all that a faithful detail of events would require. A few of the more far-sighted persons in the community thought the contest might last twelve or eighteen months, but none were bold enough to hazard the conjecture that it would be prolonged through four eventful years. The distinguished Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, confidently promised the extinction of the rebellion in sixty days. But as month after month and year after year elapsed, and the scene of warlike operations extended over a constantly widening area, with an ever-increasing earnestness in the two sections of the country arrayed against each other, it became apparent that not one volume, nor even two, would suffice for a complete history of the war. Happily, the end came at last, and though not altogether unexpected by those who knew the actual exhaustion of the South, with a suddenness almost as startling-so accustomed had the public mind become to a state of war-as the first burst of hostilities in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. When the "makers of history" ceased, the writers of it began to see a termination of their labors, and only then could the publishers set limits to the extent of the work. It is hoped, now that the work is complete, the reading public will find that the intention of making it a faithful and impartial history has been in a great measure accomplished. That it is not free from some of the defects inseparable from all contemporary history is not claimed for it. Many years must elapse, and perhaps all the participants in the great National struggle will have passed from the scene before a perfect history of the great civil war will be given to the world, or before even the truth will be ascertained with regard to many important facts, and the springs of action of many of the most distinguished actors on either side. A perfect history was probably never written. The greatest of English historians, Macaulay, said: "There are poems which we should be inclined to designate as faultless, or as disfigured only by blemishes which pass unnoticed in the general blaze of excellence. There are speeches, some speeches of Demosthenes particularly, in which it would be impossible to alter a word without altering it for the worse. But we are acquainted with no history which approaches to our notion of what a history ought to be; with no history which does not widely depart, either on the right hand or on the left, from the exact line." If this is true with regard to history in general, how great must be the difficulty attendant on the task of eliminating the truth from documents and reports, the authors of which, belonging to one or the other party, are almost certain to be interested in concealing one set of facts and giving excessive prominence to another! It is believed, however, that this task, difficult as it was, has been accomplished with a great degree of success, and that the impartiality which should characterize the records of the historian has been in this work freely exercised. In conclusion, let the hope be expressed that, dreadful as was the fratricidal contest, it will not be the task of posterity to record that it was without beneficial results, but rather that as it was like a destructive tropical tempest in its approach and during its continuance, the times which succeeded it resembled the calm which settles upon the face of nature when the storm has passed, and that the subsequent career of the Great Republic was one of uninterrupted prosperity and peaceful progress. THE PUBLISHERS. DESTRUCTION OF THE PRIVATEER PETREL BY THE ST. LAWRENCE.. BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF RESCUING THE BODY OF GENERAL BAKER PORTRAITS OF ADMIRALS DUPONT, GOLDSBOROUGH, DAHLGREN, STRINGHAM, AND WINSLOW... MAP OF THE ATLANTIC COAST FROM VIRGINIA TO FLORIDA... 648 66 PORTRAIT OF GENERAL HALLECK.. 656 |