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OR

THE GREAT EVENTS

OF

THE GREATEST CENTURY,

INCLUDING ALSO

LIFE DELINEATIONS OF OUR MOST NOTED MEN.

A Book for the Times.

BY HON. R. M. DEVENS,

OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER THREE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.

PUBLISHED BY

HUGH HERON, CHICAGO, ILLS.

1883.

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PREFACE

UNLIKE anything heretofore presented to the reader of history is the arrangement and plan of this memorial volume. It has not been the aim of the author to follow the beaten track pursued by other writers; but rather to present a work which would be found especially adapted to the wants and tastes of the age in which we live.

To describe the shifting conflicts of party, international complications, or the profound problems of public policy which have agitated the country since its very foundation, has not been attempted, except in those special features which admit of attractive narrative and the embodying of genial anecdote and pleasing memory. It is designed rather, to preserve and perpetuate those special events in the first century of our nation's existence, which have had a controlling influence in shaping the destiny and moulding the present greatness and grandeur of the American Republic-those events that have called forth the most intense interest, curiosity, admiration or terror on the part of the people; and also to illustrate and bring into striking relief, the prevailing spirit or excitement of the period marked by their occurrence. The character of the work is, in the fullest sense, romantic, stimulating and instructive-adapted in the highest degree to enlist the wrapt emotions and attention of the American citizen so long as the Republic shall endure.

That the reader of these pages may be assured of the fidelity and accuracy of the narrative in each of the scenes portrayed, we will say that eleven years have been industriously devoted to the preparation and completion of the volume. The teeming libraries of the country, both public and private, have been diligently searched-incidents and data have been taken from individuals who have been foremost participants in the scenes depicted; and authors, statesmen, military and other officials have given a hearty co-operation, and without which many items of interest could not have been obtained. In fact, the whole storehouse of history in every department has been

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