Within The Enemy's Lines
Oliver Optic
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The Blue and the Gray Series
TAKEN BY THE ENEMY WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ON THE BLOCKADE In Press
Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston
"He saw Two Men making their way through the Grove."--Page 28.]
The
BLUE AND THE GRAY
Series
By Oliver Optic
WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
_The Blue and the Gray Series_
WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
by OLIVER OPTIC
Author of"The Army and Navy Series," "Young America Abroad,""The Great Western Series," "The Woodville Stories,""The Starry Flag Series," "The Boat Club Stories,""The Onward and Upward Series," "The Yacht-Club Series,""The Lake Shore Series," "The Riverdale Series,""The Boat-Builder Series," "Taken by the Enemy," etc.
BOSTON 1890 Lee and Shepard Publishers10 Milk Street Next "The Old South Meeting House"
NEW YORK Chas. T. Dillingham 718 and 720 Broadway
Copyright, 1889, by Lee and Shepard _All rights reserved._
WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
A MON JEUNE AMI,(que je n'ai jamais vu, et que je ne connais pas,)
Monsieur Lucien Bing, de Paris, France,
En Reconnaissance de la Bonte de son Pere,Cette Historiette de la Guerre Civile en Amerique Est affectueusement Dedie.
PREFACE
"WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES" is the second volume of "The Blue and theGray Series." Like its predecessor, of course, its scenes are connectedwith the war of the Rebellion; and perhaps the writer ought to bethankful that he is not required in such a work to rise to the dignityof history, but he believes that all his events were possible, and thatevery one of them has had its parallel in the actual occurrences of thehistoric period of which he writes. In fact, some of the experiences ofthe actors in the terrible drama of a quarter of a century ago wouldpass more readily for fiction than for reality, and detailed on thepages of a story would be deemed impossible by the conservative reader.
The nation has passed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent spiriton the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing andstrengthening, in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on bothsides on the part of those who have not outlived the bitterness of thepast, and who probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly comewhen the memories of the conflict, the repetition of the stories of thewar, and even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of bothsides, will excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to theWar of the Roses in England.
In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story, relatehis history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his ownstandpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough totolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and playsrelating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap betweenthe days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires arenot rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great UnitedNation still lives on in perfect peace.
The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair thegrowing harmony between the two sections which have happily becomeone, or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since thestrife ended with any of its bitterness. He has endeavored to makeas high-toned men on the one side as the other, with the same moralsentiment in the one party as the other, and to exhibit their onlydifference in the one great question of Union or Disunion.
Dorchester, May 2, 1889.
