TO OUR HEROIC DEAD WHO PERISHED FOR THEIR COUNTRY, IN HOSPITAL, PRISON PEN AND ON THE BATTLEFIELD THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY Dedicated. THE AUTHOR. COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY O. B. CURTIS. INTRODUCTION. By request of his comrades the author has written this volume. For centuries, the story of the Anabasis and Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks, and the incursions of Hannibal into Italy have been perused with interest by classical readers; while the great campaigns of Bonaparte against the Allied Powers have been the wonder of modern times. But our own nation has a martial record as eventful as any in previous time. A full history of its Great War can never be written. Each soldier's experience is a volume in itself, portions of which are related in country stores in winter, at noonings in harvest and around veteran camp-fires. Such recitals must soon cease. To preserve the deeds of the Regiment which sustained the heaviest loss in the greatest battle of that war, and incidently those of the Iron Brigade which suffered the greatest per cent of loss during the war, of all the Brigades of the Union Armies, this history is written. It has required many months of research through war time letters, diaries and official records, by one who was an actor in a portion of that strife. In this laborious task, the author acknowledges valuable assistance from the late Sergeant S. D. GREEN (N. C. S.), from Chaplain WILLIAM C. WAY, and Major E. B. WIGHT; also from Colonel A. M. EDWARDS, Captain WILLIAM R. DODSLEY and Sergeant ROBERT GIBBONS of the Publication Committee. Should this volume interest its readers, the compiler will be repaid for his gratuitous labors. Detroit, Michigan, O. B. CURTIS. |