Preface.
This volume — the first of a series, of which the Army of Virginia and “A War Diary” form a continuous history in the War of the Rebellioncontains, in a revised and enlarged form, papers prepared for, and from time to time read to, the officers of the Second Massachusetts Infantry (under the titles of the “History of the Second Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry,” Parts I. and II., and the “Second Massachusetts Regiment and Stonewall Jackson,” Part III.), at their annual meetings on the anniversary of the organization of the Regiment. Printed for private circulation only, the very small edition of each pamphlet became long since exhausted; but not so the demand,--that is on the increase rather. To that fact, and to the belief that it is well to preserve in a permanent form the living realities of the great struggle of the nation in 1861-1865, this book owes its existence.The volumes heretofore published, “The Army of Virginia” and “A War Diary of events in the great Rebellion,” continue, with the present volume, my history in chronological order to the end of the war. [vi] ond Massachusetts Infantry at the house, the camp and the evening parade, on the fields of the old historic Brook Farm at West Roxbury, are taken from large sketches of house, camp, and field, made on the ground by a private soldier of the Regiment during our occupancy in the spring of 1861. The winter encampment near Frederick, in Maryland, in 1861-1862, is a reproduction of a sketch made by a German artist while we were in camp there.
The reports of officers are taken, some from originals in my possession, some from Moore's Rebellion Record, and others from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate armies, published pursuant to an Act of Congress, approved June 16, 1880.
A large number of papers, contemporaneous with the facts and incidents treated in this volume, carefully preserved and filed away at the close of the war, are the principal sources from whence I have been enabled to gather the most authentic material, and to present it, I trust, in a manner acceptable to my readers.
To Colonel R. N. Scott, of the United States Army, in charge of the “publication of the Official Records of the Warof the Rebellion, both of the Union and Confederate Armies,” I render thanks for an opportunity to examine advance sheets of the strength and losses of the Federal and Confederate armies in the battle of Cedar Mountain, and the official reports of that battle.
From Colonel Allan's valuable work, recently published, --“Jackson's Valley Campaign,” --I have made extracts, [vii] for which credit is duly given. I further acknowledge my obligations to this gentleman for his permission to copy those maps in his volume which represent the routes of Jackson and Ewell from Swift Run Gap in .the movement against Banks, and the battles of Kernstown and Mac-Dowell
It may not be necessary to assert that I have not so much attempted to point out how the skill of General Lee and the daring of General Stonewall Jackson prevailed over their enemies, in the general theatre of the latter's military operations, as to show in particular instances how, from Patterson to Banks through Milroy and McDowell, many of the so-called grand achievements of the great Confederate General were due to the blundering stupidity of political managers in Washington acting upon the colossal incapacity of their favorites in the field. But that this does not detract from the very marked ability shown by both Lee and Jackson in taking advantage of these blunders, I cheerfully concede.
