ITS SECRET HISTORY, RISE, PROGRESS, "I know no North, no South, no East, no West: I only know my country, my NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District Dedication. ΤΟ LIEUT. GENERAL U. S. GRANT, U.S. A., This work is respectfully dedicated, as a mark of the esteem, gratitude, and affectionate regard felt for the Commander of the Army of the United States; not only for the deliverance of the Author, but of his native State, and the whole South, from the most oppressive, grinding, and detestable military despotism of which history furnishes a record since the blessings of freedom have been understood, and the true principles of Christianity introduced. PREFACE. IN presenting this work to the public, I do not invite criticism, but, of course, do not expect it will escape either that of the press or others. If it is not harshly and bitterly denounced by the Democratic press, it will fare better than any thing I have said, written, or done since my first entrance upon the political stage. I have been told that there was an art to be studied. in writing a book, different from all other arts and all other writings, without which no one was likely to be successful. If this be true, then this, my first effort at book-writing for publication, must prove a sad failure, for the only art I have studied has been the art of telling the truth in a plain, simple style that every reader can readily comprehend, and I think there will not be found a passage in the book that it will be necessary for any child to read twice to catch its meaning. The chief merit I claim for the work is its strict fidelity to historical facts, which will be recognized by every intelligent and impartial reader as he proceeds. The truth is, that in this extraordinary age of rapid progress, one striking political event succeeds another with such remarkable rapidity that the occurrences of yesterday are obliterated from the mind by those of to-day, and thus there is hardly one man in a million who keeps up |