Almost half a century has passed since that reproof was uttered,
but its full force is only just beginning to be understood. For
nearly fifty years the story of the Civil War has been twisted to
suit local pride or prejudice in various parts of the Union, with
the result that much which passes for American history is not history
at all, and whatever else it may be, it is certainly not American.

Assuredly, the day has now arrived when such historical "make-believes"
should be discountenanced, both in the North and in the South.
Americans of the present and the coming generations are entitled
to take a common pride in whatever lent nobility to the fraternal
strife of the sixties, and to gather equal inspiration from every
achievement that reflected credit on American manhood during those
years when the existence of the Union was at stake. Until this is
rendered possible by the elimination of error and falsehood, the
sacrifices of the Civil War will, to a large extent, have been
endured in vain.

In some respects this result has already been realized. Lincoln
is no longer a local hero. He is a national heritage. To distort
or belittle the characters of other men who strove to the end that
their land "might have a new birth of freedom," is to deprive the
younger generations of part of their birthright. They are entitled
to the facts from which to form a just estimate of the lives of
all such men, regardless of uniforms.

It is in this spirit that the strangely interwoven trials of Grant
and Lee are followed in these pages. Both were Americans, and
widely as they differed in opinions, tastes and sympathies, each