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THE COWARD.

A NOVEL OF

SOCIETY AND THE FIELD

IN

1863.

BY HENRY MORFORD.

AUTHOR OF "SHOULDER-STRAPS," "THE DAYS OF SHODDY," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,
306 CHESTNUT STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for
the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania.

TO
THE PATRIOT PRINTERS OF AMERICA—
THE MEN WHO
HAVE FURNISHED MORE SOLDIERS
THAN ANY OTHER CLASS
IN COMPARISON WITH THE WHOLE NUMBER OF THEIR CRAFT,
TO
THE DEAD HEROES OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION
AND
THE LIVING ARMIES THAT YET BULWARK ITS HOPE,—
THIS
BLENDING OF THE FACTS AND FANCIES
OF
WAR-TIME,
IS
DEDICATED BY THEIR BROTHER-CRAFTSMAN,

THE AUTHOR.

New York City, July, 1864.

[Pg 21]

PREFACE.

Some persons, taking up this work with expectations more or less elevated,may possibly lay it down with disappointment after perusal, because it doesnot discuss with sharp personalities, as the title may have led them tosuppose, the conduct of some of those well-known men connected with theUnion Army, who have disgracefully faltered on the field. But the truth isthat the Union Army has mustered very few cowards—so few, that adistinguished artist, not long ago called on to draw an ideal head of oneof that class, said: "Really it is so long since I have seen a coward, thatI scarcely know how to go about it!" The aim of the writer, eschewing allsuch tempting personalities, and quite as carefully avoiding all drydidactic discussion of the theme of courage and its opposite,—hasprincipally been to illustrate the tendency of many men to misunderstandtheir own characters in certain particulars, and the inevitable consequenceof their being misunderstood by the world, in one direction or the other.No apology is felt to be[Pg 22] necessary for the length at which the scenery ofthe White Mountains, their actualities of interest and possibilities ofdanger, have been introduced into the narration; nor is it believed thatthe chain of connection with the great contest will be found the weakerbecause the glimpses given of it are somewhat more brief than in precedingpublications of the same series. In those portions the writer has againoccasion to acknowledge the assistance of the same capable hand whichsupplied much of the war data for both of his previous volumes.

New York City, July 1st, 1864.

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