PREFACE. URING his term of service, the writer of the following pages kept, solely for his own amusement, a diary, wherein he recorded, from day to day, the movements of the regiment, together with such other incidents as seemed to him worthy of being remembered. At the earnest solicitation of many of his former comrades, he consented, but not without reluctance and many misgivings, to compile from the data and memoranda in his possession, a History of the Campaigns of the SEVENTEENTH MAINE. Never in his wildest flights of fancy, contemplating the possibility of entering the arena of letters, or becoming a "book maker," his notes were confined principally to matters of purely personal interest, and consequently were, in many instances relating to the regiment, very meagre and unsatisfactory. In presenting this volume, therefore, as a history of the gallant regiment, of which he had the honor to form a one-thousandth part, he would crave the kind indulgence of the reader, for the many inaccuracies and omissions that may be noticed, for the glaring faults and blunders in style and composition, as well as for several typographical errors, which have found their way into the following pages. To those gentlemen who have assisted him in the preparation of the work, he desires to express his thanks; and without further apology or excuse, he submits the result of his labors to the tender mercies of his friends. PORTLAND, MARCH 1, 1866. |