spirit and the truth of history, may wander from veritable details, and
use his imagination in the creation of incidents upon which the grand
result is reached. It would not be allowable to make the Rebellion a
success, if the writer so desired, even on the pages of romance; and it
would not be fair or just to ignore the bravery, the self-sacrifice, and
the heroic endurance of the Southern people in a cause they believed to
be holy and patriotic, as almost universally admitted at the present
time, any more than it would be to lose sight of the magnificent spirit,
the heroism, the courage, and the persistence, of the Northern people in
accomplishing what they believed then, and still believe, was a holy and
patriotic duty in the preservation of the Union.

Incidents not inconsistent with the final result, or with the spirit
of the people on either side in the great conflict are of comparatively
little consequence. That General Lee or General Grant turned this or
that corner in reaching Appomattox may be important, but the grand
historical tableau is the Christian hero, noble in the midst of defeat,
disaster, and ruin, formally rendering his sword to the impassible but
magnanimous conqueror as the crowning event of a long and bloody war.
The details are historically important, though overshadowed by the
mighty result of the great conflict.

Many of the personages of the preceding volumes have been introduced in
the present one, and the central figure remains the same. The writer is
willing to admit that his hero is an ideal character, though his lofty
tone and patriotic spirit were fully paralleled by veritable individuals
during the war; and he is not prepared to apologize for the abundant
success which attended the career of Christy Passford. Those who really
struggled as earnestly and faithfully deserved his good fortune, though
they did not always obtain it.