Excerpt from War Memoranda: Cheat River to the Tennessee, 1861-1862
It is in the power of gifted writers to make the literature of war extremely attractive. The horrid panorama of battle, well portrayed, possesses a fascinating interest for every one. The science of war, including that of fortification, requires the highest application of the exact sciences, and the best skill of well educated minds. In its practice the greatest variety of detail is brought into play, sustained by personal courage and the highest exhibition of human energy.
With all these advantages of a subject, the readers of these pages must not anticipate literary attractions. During a brief service in the war of the Rebellion, my field notes, sketches and maps naturally accumulated, as the results of personal observations. The memory of those days has not weakened by the lapse of time. Every reference to those memoranda has made the recollection of events more interesting and vivid. I shall not be able to impress upon my readers these glowing visions of the past, which, under the mechanical act of writing, lose their brilliancy. Many years since, without any specific object, most of these papers were outlined as a congenial occupation. They are here produced in a manner that makes no pretense to statistical or historical completeness, but with a feeling that no narrative of military events, by parties who participated in them, can be without some value.
The occasional use of ths personal pronoun is liable to the charge of egotism. I think it preferable to the use of "the present writer," "the narrator," or "the author," which are open to the same objection, and also to that of awkward circumlocution.
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