{"product_id":"2940013564718","title":"A VICTORIOUS UNION","description":"PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A VICTORIOUS UNION\" is the sixth and last of \"The Blue and the Gray\u003cbr\u003eSeries.\" While the volume is not intended to be a connected historical\u003cbr\u003enarrative of the particular period of the War of the Rebellion in which\u003cbr\u003eits scenes are laid, the incidents accurately conform to the facts,\u003cbr\u003eand especially to the spirit, of the eventful years in which they are\u003cbr\u003eplaced, as recorded in the chronicles of the great struggle, and as they\u003cbr\u003eexist in the memory of the writer. It is more than thirty years since\u003cbr\u003ethe war began, and thousands upon thousands of the active participants\u003cbr\u003ein the strife as soldiers and sailors, including nearly all the great\u003cbr\u003ecommanders, have passed on to their eternal reward. Thousands upon\u003cbr\u003ethousands of men and women have been born and reached their maturity\u003cbr\u003esince the most tremendous war of modern times ended in A Victorious\u003cbr\u003eUnion. The knowledge of the stirring events of those four years of\u003cbr\u003econflict, and of the patriotic spirit which inspired and underlaid\u003cbr\u003ethem, has come, or will come, to at least one-half the population\u003cbr\u003eof this vast nation of sixty-five millions from the printed page or\u003cbr\u003ethrough the listening ear. The other moiety, more or less, either as\u003cbr\u003echildren or adults, lived in the period of action, saw the gathering\u003cbr\u003ebattalions, and heard or read the daily reports from the ensanguined\u003cbr\u003ebattle-fields.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn some of the States that remained loyal to the Union throughout the\u003cbr\u003elong struggle, a military parade had been regarded by many as something\u003cbr\u003every much in the nature of a circus display, as \"fuss and feathers,\"\u003cbr\u003esuch as tickled the vanity of both officer and private. Military\u003cbr\u003eorganizations, except in our small regular army, were disparaged and\u003cbr\u003eridiculed. When the war came, the Northern people were unprepared for\u003cbr\u003eit to a very great degree. The change of public opinion was as sudden\u003cbr\u003eas the mighty event was precipitate. Then the soldier became the most\u003cbr\u003eprominent and honored member of the community, and existing military\u003cbr\u003ebodies became the nucleus of the armies that were to fight the battles\u003cbr\u003eof the Republic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring the last thirty years the military spirit has been kept alive as\u003cbr\u003ea constituent element of patriotism itself. The love of country has been\u003cbr\u003ediligently fostered and nurtured in the young, and public opinion has\u003cbr\u003ebeen voiced and energized in the statutes of many States, and in the\u003cbr\u003eeducational machinery of many municipalities. Over vast numbers of\u003cbr\u003eschoolhouses in our land floats the American flag, the symbol of the\u003cbr\u003eUnion and the principles that underlie it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe flag, the banner now of a reunited nation, means something more than\u003cbr\u003ethe sentiment of loyalty to the Union as the home of freedom; for it\u003cbr\u003eimplies the duty of defending the honor of that flag, the representative\u003cbr\u003eidea of all we hold dear in Fatherland. In the East and the West a\u003cbr\u003econsiderable proportion of the high schools make military tactics a part\u003cbr\u003eof their educational course. Companies, battalions, and regiments of\u003cbr\u003eyoung men in their teens parade the streets of some of our cities,\u003cbr\u003eshowing in what manner the military spirit is kept alive, and, at the\u003cbr\u003esame time, how the flag floating over our educational institutions,\u003cbr\u003ewhich means so much more than ever before to our people, is to be\u003cbr\u003edefended and perpetuated in the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author of the six volumes of \"The Blue and the Gray Series,\" as well\u003cbr\u003eas of \"The Army and Navy Series,\" the latter begun in the heat of the\u003cbr\u003ewar thirty years ago, earnestly believes in keeping active in the minds\u003cbr\u003eof the young the spirit of patriotism. In the present volume, as in\u003cbr\u003ethose which have preceded it, he has endeavored to present to his\u003cbr\u003ereaders, not only a hero who is brave, skilful, and ready to give his\u003cbr\u003elife for his country, but one who is unselfishly patriotic; one who is\u003cbr\u003enot fighting for promotion and prize-money, but to save the Union in\u003cbr\u003ewhose integrity and necessity he believes as the safeguard and substance\u003cbr\u003eof American liberty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeace has reigned in our land for nearly thirty years, and the\u003cbr\u003easperities of a relentless war have been supplanted by better and more\u003cbr\u003ebrotherly relations between the North and the South. The writer would\u003cbr\u003enot print a word that would disturb these improving conditions; and if\u003cbr\u003ehe has erred at all in picturing the intercourse between Americans as\u003cbr\u003eenemies, he has made sure to do so in the interests of justice and\u003cbr\u003emagnanimity on both sides.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079579746544,"sku":"2940013564718","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013564718_p0.jpg?v=1763583015","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013564718","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}