occurring in the papers of the Chief Magistrates, or to develop more
fully questions or subjects to which only indirect reference is made or
which are but briefly discussed by them. There will also be found short
accounts of several hundred battles in which the armies of the United
States have been engaged; also descriptions of all the States of the
Union and of many foreign countries. We have striven earnestly to make
these encyclopedic articles historically correct, and to this end have
carefully compared them with the most eminent authorities. This feature
was not within the scope of the work as contemplated when the resolution
authorizing the compilation was passed, nor when the act was passed
requiring the preparation of the Index; but with the approval of the
Joint Committee on Printing I have inserted the articles, believing that
they would be of interest. They contain facts and valuable information
not always easily accessible, and it is hoped that they will serve to
familiarize the young men of the country who read them with its history
and its trials and make of them better citizens and more devoted lovers
of our free institutions. There has been no effort or inclination on my
part to give partisan bias or political coloring of any nature to these
articles. On the other hand, I have sought only to furnish reliable
historical data and well-authenticated definitions and to avoid even the
appearance of an expression of my own opinion. It is proper to add that
these articles have all been read and approved by Mr. A.R. Spofford,
Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress, to whom I now make acknowledgment
of my indebtedness.

In pursuance of the plan originally adopted certain papers were
omitted from the earlier volumes of this work. Referring to these
papers, the following statement occurs in the Prefatory Note to Volume
I: "In executing the commission with which I have been charged I have
sought to bring together in the several volumes of the series all