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THE YOUNG SHARPSHOOTER AT ANTIETAM
BY EVERETT T. TOMLINSON
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1914
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY EVERETT T. TOMLINSON
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published September 1914
THEY WERE FALLING BY SCORES
PREFACE
This story has been written with no desire to revive or even to keepalive the spirit of the struggle between the States.
Nevertheless the facts which have made our history and the forces whichhave entered into the making of the life of our country ought not to beignored or forgotten. The effect of the conflict was too great for that.The Civil War is now far enough away to enable us to see the heroic,dramatic, and even romantic elements that composed it; and all these,too, free from the bitterness which naturally was characteristic of thetimes.
To-day each side understands the other better, and with a more completeknowledge is able to see more clearly the sterling qualities of bothcontestants.
The appreciation of the importance of Lee's first attempt to invade theNorth is necessary if one is to understand the struggle which followed.The dash, spirit, and skill of the great Southern leader, as well as theenergy and the daring of his lieutenants, are seen to-day more clearlythan in the times when his effort was made. What the consequence wouldhave been if General Lee had succeeded, all can appreciate. The battleof Antietam was almost a pivot of the great Civil War.
That my young readers may gain a more complete knowledge of the daringadvance of the great Southern general and the result which followed whenhis army was turned back into Virginia, I have written this story. Myhope is that it will lead to a careful study of the conflict, and thatboys, North and South alike, may be led into an increased knowledge ofand interest in our common country.
Everett T. Tomlinson.
Elizabeth, New Jersey.