Excerpt from Union Disunion Reunion; Three Decades of Federal Legislation; 1855 to 1885, Personal: Personal and Historical Memories of Events Preceding, During, and Since the American Civil War, Involving Slavery and Secession, Emancipation and Reconstruction, With Sketches of Prominent Actors During These Periods
It is said by a translator of Thucydides, that the sources from which the ancient historian gathered his narrative are very dissimilar to those at the disposal of the modem historian. The first were meagre and oral, the latter are often overwhelming to the compiler by the very mass of materials. Writers like Thucydides had certain aids, such as statues, buildings, columns from sepulchres, decrees of state, and traditions, but few written data comparable with modem libraries.
The author of this volume, unlike the ancient recorder, has had no need to draw upon his imagination in order to depict events, or give eloquence to his characters. He has had access to a multitude of books and other recorded evidences bearing upon his theme. He has also been quite near to the contending forces and persons, and in the very midst of many of the events which he narrates. He has written within reach of the Library of Congress, with its vast stores of material. He has had the same freedom of access to the House Library, and to collections of legislative and executive documents. No fact has been stated upon doubtful authority. All important statements have been made in the language of official reports of the executive departments of the government, of congressional investigating committees, of the witnesses examined before congressional or legislative committees, or of the proceedings of the state conventions and legislatures. In cases of conflicting testimony, the statements of witnesses or parties on each side have been considered or cited. No inference prejudicial to private character or public conduct has been drawn which has not been accompanied by indisputable facts.
In the preparation of portions of this work the writer has had the assistance of gentlemen with whom he is more or less associated in and out of Congress, and without whose aid he could not speak with such absolute certainty as to some of its verities.
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