Produced by David Reed and Liz Warren
A Story Of The American Civil War.
by G. A. Henty
My Dear Lads:
The Great War between the Northern and Southern States of Americapossesses a peculiar interest for us, not only because it was a strugglebetween two sections of a people akin to us in race and language, butbecause of the heroic courage with which the weaker party, with ill-fed,ill-clad, ill-equipped regiments, for four years sustained the contestwith an adversary not only possessed of immense numerical superiority,but having the command of the sea, and being able to draw its arms andmunitions of war from all the manufactories of Europe. Authorities stilldiffer as to the rights of the case. The Confederates firmly believedthat the States having voluntarily united, retained the right ofwithdrawing from the Union when they considered it for their advantageto do so. The Northerners took the opposite point of view, and an appealto arms became inevitable. During the first two years of the war thestruggle was conducted without inflicting unnecessary hardship upon thegeneral population. But later on the character of the war changed, andthe Federal armies carried wide-spread destruction wherever theymarched. Upon the other hand, the moment the struggle was over theconduct of the conquerors was marked by a clemency and generosityaltogether unexampled in history, a complete amnesty being granted, andnone, whether soldiers or civilians, being made to suffer for theirshare in the rebellion. The credit of this magnanimous conduct was to agreat extent due to Generals Grant and Sherman, the former of whom tookupon himself the responsibility of granting terms which, although theywere finally ratified by his government, were at the time received withanger and indignation in the North. It was impossible, in the course ofa single volume, to give even a sketch of the numerous and complicatedoperations of the war, and I have therefore confined myself to thecentral point of the great struggle—the attempts of the Northern armiesto force their way to Richmond, the capital of Virginia and the heart ofthe Confederacy. Even in recounting the leading events in thesecampaigns, I have burdened my story with as few details as possible, itbeing my object now, as always, to amuse as well as to give instructionin the facts of history.
Contents
"I won't have it, Pearson; so it's no use your talking. If I had my wayyou shouldn't touch any of the field hands. And when I get my way—thatwon't be so very long—I will take good care you sha'n't. But yousha'n't hit Dan."
"He is not one of the regular house hands," was the reply; "and I shallappeal to Mrs. Wingfield as to