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115

THE

HISTORY

OF A

Brigade of South Carolinians,

KNOWN FIRST AS

22 GREGG'S,"

AND SUBSEQUENTLY AS

"MCGOWAN'S BRIGADE.”

BY

J. F. J. CALDWELL,

LATELY AN OFFICER OF THE FIRST REGIMENT S. C. V.

PHILADELPHIA:

KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET.

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INTRODUCTION.

It is true that the war of secession is past; it is true that the question, submitted to the stern arbitrament of arms, has been declared in characters of blood and fire against us; and, therefore, it is true that it becomes us not to encourage the ancient animosities of sections, but rather to strive to bind together and harmonize the two long-discordant elements, for destiny seems to have fixed that they shall dwell under one government.

But we need not, on these grounds, banish that war from our memories, or forbid its mention to our lips. It was too prominent a phenomenon, not only on the Western Continent, but with all the first nations of the Old World; it called forth armies too mighty, navies too crafty and persevering; it stimulated too much intellect in all private, political and military circles; it shed too vast a deluge of blood; it laid waste too many fields, and homesteads, and cities with flame; it engendered too intense feelings of love, of hatred, of patriotism, of blood-thirstiness, of all, in fine, that constitutes enthusiasm, not to be of vital moment to the world. I may overrate its importance, but that war seems to me to embody more that deserves history than any one for at least a century past. From it we may dethat relates to the dis

rive instruction and warning in all

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