This work was composed, with the aid of an amanuensis, in the early
hours of the morning, before the beginning of the editorial tasks of
each day. Mr. Greeley's long connection with the _Tribune_, as its
editor-in-chief, tended to make him more familiar with American politics
from 1830 to 1860 than almost any other of his contemporaries, and when
he proposed to himself to write the history of the American civil war,
he could justly claim to have full knowledge of the _causes_ which
had led to it. In the preface to his first volume (1864) he stated
frankly that "the History of the civil war will not and cannot now be
written." All that he hoped to accomplish, then, was to write a
_political_ rather than a military history of the great struggle.
He succeeded, and his work deserves to rank as one of the most valuable,
and, so far as it goes, accurate and impartial narratives of the
contest.

The first volume treats chiefly of the causes and events which
culminated in secession, while the second volume (1866) depicts, without
embellishment, the military and political victories which ended in the
restoration of peace. The author cherished the belief that the war was
"the unavoidable result of antagonisms imbedded in the very nature of
our heterogeneous institutions: that ours was indeed an 'irrepressible
conflict,' which might have been prevented."

In its _military_ portions the work is decidedly weak, and much of
interest and value is omitted. For facts, the author relied chiefly on
Moore's _Rebellion Record_, Victor's _History of the Southern
Rebellion_, (embracing important data not found in the _Record_)
and Pollard's _Southern History of the War_. After a later survey
of the war-literature, Mr. Greeley felt justified in the candid claim
that his work "is one of the clearest statements yet made of the long
chain of causes which led irresistibly to the war for the Union, showing
why that war was the righteous and natural consequence of the American
people's general and guilty compliance in the crime of upholding and
diffusing Human Slavery."

This work won such popular favor that it soon reached a sale of one
hundred thousand copies. But when, in 1867, its distinguished author
signed the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis, its sale was suddenly checked.
The act was an unselfish one; its propriety, however, was questioned by
many persons. Whether, on account of it, Mr. Greeley be blamed or
applauded, his work merits commen