can
ever convey an adequate idea to those who come after us of the
sufferings and sacrifices through which the country has passed.
Thousands of men--the flower of our Northern youth--have gone down
to their graves unheralded and unknown, and their achievements and
devotion to the cause have already been forgotten. It is, therefore,
incumbent upon us, who were their comrades in the field, to do all
in our power to preserve their deeds from oblivion.

And yet it is no easy task to relate contemporaneous events.
Whoever attempts it must be prepared for severe criticism and the
exhibition of much personal feeling. Some of this may be avoided,
it is true, by writing a colorless history, praising everybody,
and attributing all disasters to dispensations of Providence, for
which no one is to blame. I cannot, however, consent to fulfill
my allotted task in this way, for the great lessons of the war are
too valuable to be ignored or misstated. It is not my desire to
assail any of the patriotic men who were engaged in the contest,
but each of us is responsible for our actions in this world, and
for the consequences which flow from them; and where great disasters
have occurred, it is due both to the living and the dead that the
causes and circumstances be justly and properly stated.

Richelieu once exclaimed, upon giving away a high appointment:
"Now I have made one ingrate and a thousand enemies." Every one
who writes the history of the Great Rebellion will often have
occasion to reiterate the statement: For the military critic must
necessarily describe facts which imply praise or censure. Those
who have contributed to great successes think much more might have
been said on the subject, and those who have caused reverses and
defeats are bitter in their denunciations.

Nevertheless, the history of the war should be written before the
facts have faded from the memory of living men, and have become
mere matters of tradition.

In a narrative of this kind, resting upon a great number of voluminous
details, I cannot hope to have wholly escaped error, and wherever
I have misconceived or misstated a fact, it will give me pleasure
to correct the record.

A. D.
NEW YORK, January, 1882.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF MAPS

CHANCELLORSVILLE
CHAPTER I.
THE OPENING OF 1863--HOOKER'S PLANS
CHAPTER II.
FRIDAY, THE FIRST OF MAY
CHAPTER III.
THE DISASTROUS SECOND OF MAY
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROUT OF THE ELEVENTH CORPS
CHAPTER V.
J