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999236A

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868,

BY CHARLES B. RICHARDSON,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

PREFACE.

IN presenting a second volume of a popular History of the Southern War for Independence, the author gratefully acknowledges the kind reception by the Southern public of his first volume, the generous notices of the independent Press of the Confederacy, and the encouragement of friends. He has no disposition to entreat criticism or importune its charities. But he would be incapable of gratitude, if he was not sensible of the marks of public generosity which have been given to a work which made no pretensions to severe or legitimate history, and ventured upon no solicitations of literary success.

He can afford no better vindication of the character and objects of his work than by quoting here what was prefixed to one of the editions of his first volume:

"Every candid mind must be sensible of the futility of attempting a high order of historical composition in the treatment of recent and incomplete events; but it does not follow that the contemporary annal, the popular narrative, and other inferior degrees of history, can have no value and interest because they cannot compete in accuracy with the future retrospect of events. The vulgar notion of history is, that it is a record intended for posterity. The author contends that history has an office to perform in the present, and that one of the greatest values of contemporary annals is to vindicate in good time to the world the fame and reputation of nations."

"With this object constantly in "view, the author has com

posed this work. He will accomplish his object, and be rewarded with a complete satisfaction, if his unpretending book shall have the effect of promoting more extensive inquiries; enlightening the present; vindicating the principles of a great contest to the contemporary world; and putting before the living generation in a convenient form of literature, and at an early and opportune time, the name and deeds of our people." Richmond, August, 1863.

CONTENTS.

The New Orleans Disaster.-Its Consequences and Effects.-Dispatches of the

European Commissioners.-Butler "the Beast."-Public Opinion in Europe.-The

Atrocities of the Massachusetts Tyrant.-Execution of Mumford.-Lesson of New

Orleans. Spirit of Resistance in the South.-Change in the Fortunes of the Con-

federacy. Two Leading Causes for it.-The Richmond "Examiner."-The Conscrip-

tion Law.-Governor Brown of Georgia.-Reorganization of the Army.-Abandon-

ment of our Frontier Defences.-The Policy of Concentration.-Governor Rector's

Appeal.-First Movements of the Summer Campaign in Virginia.-The Retreat from

Yorktown.-Evacuation of Norfolk.-Destruction of the "Virginia."-Commodore

Tatnall's Report.-Secretary Mallory's Visit to Norfolk.-The Engagement of Wil-

liamsburg. The Affair of Barhamsville.-McClellan's Investment of the Lines of the

Chickahominy.-Alarm in Richmond.-The Water Avenue of the James.-The Panie

in Official Circles.-Consternation in the President's House.-Correspondence be-

tween President Davis and the Legislature of Virginia.-Noble Resolutions of the

Legislature. Response of the Citizens of Richmond.-The Bombardment of Drewry's

Bluff.-The Mass Meeting at the City Hall.-Renewal of Public Confidence.-The

Occasions of this.-JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN IN THE VALLEY.-The Engagement of

McDowell. The Surprise at Front Royal.-Banks' Retreat down the Valley.-The

Engagements of Port Republic.-Results of the Campaign.-Death of Turner Ash-

by.-Sufferings of the People of the Valley of the Shenandoah.-MEMOIR of Turner

ASHBY..
..PAGE 17

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