The Project Gutenberg EBook of In The Ranks, by R. E. McBride

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Title: In The Ranks
From the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House

Author: R. E. McBride

Release Date: January 25, 2010 [EBook #31075]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: R. E. McBRIDE.]

IN THE RANKS:

FROM THE

WILDERNESS TO APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE.

THE WAR,
AS SEEN AND EXPERIENCED BY A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

BY REV. R. E. M'BRIDE.

A tale of the times of old. The deeds of days of other years.
--OSSIAN.

CINCINNATI:
PRINTED BY WALDEN & STOWE,
FOR THE AUTHOR.
1881

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by

R. E. M'BRIDE,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

In giving this book to the public we do so under the same plea which
justifies those pleasant gatherings called "reunions," where men of the
same regiment, corps, or army, meet to extend friendly greetings to each
other, to friends, and all comrades in arms.

The writer has found it a pleasant task to recall the scenes of fifteen
years ago, when, a mere boy in years, he had a part in the events here
recorded. He is conscious of a kindly affection toward the men who were
his companions during those stirring times. Kindness, thoughtfulness,
forbearance, toward the boy-soldier, are not forgotten. If he found any
thing different from these in his intercourse with men or officers, it
has passed from memory, and he would not recall it if he could.

We trust, also, that this work may have a mission of utility to the
generation that has grown up since the war.

There is a certain almost indefinable something, which has been summed
up under the expression, "military traditions." This comes not alone
from formal histories of the wars of the nation, but more largely fro