Soldier in Our Civil War

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There were active, efficient, hardy soldiers, who did service, not for honor, glory, or reward, but to defend their firesides. They fought from a consciousness of duty, and were equally patriotic whether they marched under the stars or under the bars, and these are the subjects, the authors, the actors, the heroes of our Book. It took soldiers massed together, willing to obey the orders of their commanders, and to face death at every' step, to make an army. We picture these soldier-heroes - their faces gave the artists the inspiration that enabled them to make these battle scenes true to life. These pictures were made amid the very scenes they so vividly illustrate, and are now first published in a form to be preserved and supplement the histories already written. We aim to record only facts as demonstrated and proven by twenty-five years' historical research. We give no cause, no excuse, no apology for defeat, and no reason for victory. The War for Independence and The War of the Rebellion has no place in our book. We only care to illustrate the valor, patriotism, and bravery of the soldier as developed by and illustrated in the war. We gatherfrom both parties to the strife the incidents of battle, and seek only to perpetuate their memories, as they serve to show our children and our children's children that whether their father wore the blue or the gray, he was equally brave and honest in his efforts to defeat the foe hurled against him and his standard on the battle-field.