HARVARD COLLEGE MAR 27 1917 Ward ofund Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by LED YARD BILL, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Stereotyped by SMITH & MCDOUGAL, 82 & 84 Beekman Street, New York. Printed by C. A. ALVORD, 15 Vaudewater Street. THE appearance at this time of such a volume as this now in the hands of the reader, needs no excuse or apology. It comes of the natural outgrowth of the struggle in which our country is engaged. There is no merit claimed for it further than the fact of having collected and preserved here a few of the thousand fragments which may be found associated with every field of battle, and which only need be gathered up to be ever treasured as mementoes of the terrible conflict in which Liberty and Anarchy have now so long and so stoutly grappled for the mastery on this continent, In the early history of the rebellion the loyal people were everywhere stirred with deepest indignation, and their patriotism found from poet-hearts full and deep expression. The best of the poetic compositions have been selected and placed here, and among the list of authors, whose productions give grace and beauty to these pages, will be found the well known names of Mrs. Howe, Bryant, Stoddard, Holmes, Bayard Taylor, Mrs. Sigourney, Whittier, and others who have by their loyalty lent lustre to our cause. War gives rise to anecdotes and incidents without number, and when peace shall spread her wings over our shattered land, and the surviving heroes shall be home again, then will be told the gallant deeds which shall become the treasured history of town and country. These, gathered by the future historian, will form the great curiosity-shop and store-house of our literature; in, and from which, the coming generations shall learn of the sufferings, privations, and heroic action of their gallant and brave forefathers, who not only suffered all the calamities of war, but who by tens of thousands, aye! tens and hundreds of thousands, bravely and willingly went down to death that they might have preserved to them that same Liberty our early ancestors planted on these western shores and watered with their blood. The concluding part of this volume is given to the great battles of the war, together with a complete record of the chief events since the commencement of the conflict. These battle-pieces were, at the time of their earliest publication, of absorbing interest to the people everywhere, and they must always continue to possess a power to charm the general reader. It is hoped that some portions of this volume, at least, may be found of interest to all; if so, I shall feel that the labor spent in the compilation has not been wholly thrown away. L. B. BROOKLYN, May 14th, 1864. |