are publishing, under the general title of the
Campaigns of the Civil War,
a series of volumes, contributed at their solicitation by anumber of leading actors in and students of the great conflictof 1861-65, with a view to bringing together, for the firsttime, a full and authoritative military history of the suppres-sion of the Rebellion.
The final and exhaustive form of this great narrative, in which everydoubt shall be settled and every detail covered, may be a possibilityonly of the future. But it is a matter for surprise that twenty yearsafter the beginning of the Rebellion, and when a whole generationhas grown up needing such knowledge, there is no authority which isat the same time of the highest rank, intelligible and trustworthy, andto which a reader can turn for any general view of the field—for astrong, vivid, concise but truly proportioned story of the great salientevents.
The many reports, regimental histories, memoirs, and other materi-als of value for special passages, require, for their intelligent reading,an ability to combine and proportion them which the ordinary readerdoes not possess. There have been no attempts at general historieswhich have supplied this satisfactorily to any large part of the public.Undoubtedly there has been no such narrative as would be especiallywelcome to men of the new generation, and would be valued by a verygreat class of readers;—and there has seemed to be great danger thatthe time would be allowed to pass when it would be possible to giveto such a work the vividness and accuracy that come from personalrecollection. These facts led to the conception of the present work.