Book Description

Excerpt from Personal Reminiscences of a Maryland Soldier in the War Between the States, 1861-1865: For Private Circulation Only At the request of somewhat partial friends, I have undertaken to write out some of the events which came under my personal observation during the great struggle which convulsed our country, now more than a third of a century ago. The narrative must of necessity be more or less personal in its character, and may offend the sensibilities of some readers, while it will doubtless do violence to my own sense of modesty; but one cannot very well speak of the things he saw or did without this peculiarity, which is here stated at the outset, to break as far as possible the effect of this disagreeable feature. My early predilections were of a martial character. As a boy, the story of the deeds of soldier and sailor were to me of the most engrossing interest, and the display of heroism which attended the long struggle of the Revolutionary period, the war of 1812, and later, that with Mexico, were cherished in my youthful recollections and read and reread with an ardor that almost approached worship. As soon as my years warranted, I became a member of the State volunteer soldiery in an organization of considerable reputation, the Independent Greys of Baltimore, and acquired a fair proficiency in the elementary work of a soldier, the manual of arms and the school of the company. My early reading and associations led me to take views of the great questions which agitated and disturbed the public mind, in the days of 1860, by enlisting most strongly my sympathies in favor of the rights of the States under the constitution, and in opposition to efforts and the dominant purpose of the north to violate the express terms of that compact, and to destroy the principles of home government. With all this, in common with most Marylanders, was held in sacred reverence the love of the Union and the glories of our common country. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.