READING ROOM COPYRIGHT, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 1882. CRANT, FAIRES & RODGERS, 52 & 54 N. Sixth St., Philadelphia. •T4V3 PREFACE ENERAL THOMAS once said to the author: "Time and his GE tory will do me justice." He however desired that a narrative history of the Army of the Cumberland should precede all biographical representations of himself. It is probable that he overestimated the direct and suggestive force of such a narrative to effect his own vindication, and it is certain that he did not anticipate the disparaging tenor of histories published since his death. Justice has not been done him, in the opinion of multitudes who believe him to have been a very great man and general; and there is, therefore, need of a book which has been written to give the well-defined reasons for this belief. Private and family letters have been excluded from this volume, in deference to General Thomas' expressed opinion, that no strictly personal communications should be published except with the consent of those writing them. For the details of operations which have been analyzed and dis cussed, the reader is referred to my History of the Army of the Cum berland, and Captain Ruger's accompanying Atlas, from which have been taken reduced battle maps for this volume. 212170 It is both pleasant and obligatory to acknowledge my indebtedness to Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred L. Hough, of the Sixteenth Infantry, for the privilege of quoting from his invaluable manuscript "Notes"; to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Robert N. Scott, Major of the Third Artillery, for copies of numerous important official papers from the WarRecord office, under his charge; to Lieutenant-Colonel G. C. Kniffin, fate of the Staff of the Twenty-First corps, for tables giving the strength of the opposing armies in the central theatre of war, compiled for his forthcoming history-" The War in the West"; to Major William H. Lambert, of Philadelphia, late of the Thirty-third New Jersey Vol., for assistance in proof-reading, and in the revision and verification of the text. August 23d, 1882. THOMAS B. VAN HORNE. |