lished, and there are even critical commentaries upon these, which guard the historian against error. But in the latter parts, there is yet great dearth of detail. I have been obliged to depend, for the connected outline, upon the masterly-I may say, model-report of General Grant; and for details to such materials as had been received, not even including extended reports of the corps-commanders. It is not improbable, therefore, that, for want of such corrective matter in the details, I may have made occasional mistakes, in spite of my best efforts to avoid doing so.
When such errors are pointed out, they shall be corrected.
I must express my hearty thanks to General Grant for his kindness in sanctioning my attempt to portray his military career, and to Major-General Rawlins for his invaluable assistance in furnishing materials without which the work could not have been written. Most of this material could not have been otherwise obtained. For its use, and the form in which it is presented, I alone am responsible.
To my friend, Captain Thomas Mitchell, of Philadelphia, late a staff-officer in the Army of the Potomac, I am indebted for valuable assistance in collecting notes, and in transcribing some of the earlier portions of the work.
I shall be amply paid for my labors, which have been arduous, if my simple narrative shall prove to the world the truth of the opinion, already very widely entertained, that Grant is the first soldier of the age, and the most distinguished American of the Regenerated Republic.
PHILADELPHIA, December 1, 1865.