Stand By The Union

by Oliver Optic

  Produced by Louise Hope, David Garcia, Juliet Sutherlandand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from imagesgenerously made available by The Kentuckiana DigitalLibrary)

  THE BLUE AND THE GRAY--AFLOAT

  Two colors cloth Emblematic Dies IllustratedPrice per volume $1.50

  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ON THE BLOCKADE STAND BY THE UNION FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT A VICTORIOUS UNION

  THE BLUE AND THE GRAY--ON LAND

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  BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER IN THE SADDLE A LIEUTENANT AT EIGHTEEN ON THE STAFF (Other volumes in preparation)

  Any Volume Sold Separately.Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston

  Mr. Galvinne is Subdued.--Page 166.]

  The

  BLUE AND THE GRAY

  Series

 

  By Oliver Optic

  STAND by the UNION

  _The Blue and the Gray Series_

  STAND BY THE UNION

  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 Series""The Onward and Upward Series" "The Yacht-Club Series""The Lake Shore Series" "The Riverdale Stories""The Boat-Builder Series" "Taken by the Enemy""Within the Enemy's Lines" "On the Blockade" etc.

  BOSTON 1896 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS10 Milk Street Next "The Old South Meeting House."

  Copyright, 1891, by Lee and Shepard _All rights reserved._

  Stand by the Union.

  To My Two Young Friends,

  MISS HELEN CAMPBELL SMITH and MISS ANNA ROCKWELL SMITH,

  The Daughters Of My Friend Mr. George A. Smith Of Boston,

  This Volume Is Affectionately Dedicated.

  PREFACE

  "STAND BY THE UNION" is the fourth of "The Blue and Gray Series." As inthe preceding volumes of the series, the incidents of the story arelocated in the midst of the war of the Rebellion, now dating back nearlythirty years, or before any of my younger readers were born. To thosewho lived two days in one through that eventful and anxious period,sometimes trembling for the fate of the nation, but always sustained bythe faith and the hope through which the final victory was won, it seemshardly possible that so many years have flowed into the vast ocean ofthe past since that terrible conflict was raging over so large a portionof our now united country.

  Though it is said that the South "robbed the cradle and the grave" torecruit the armies of the Confederacy, it is as true that young and oldin the North went forth in their zeal to "Stand by the Union," and thatmany and many a young soldier and sailor who had not yet seen twentysummers endured the hardships of the camp and the march, the broilingsuns, and the wasting maladies of semi-tropical seas, fought bravely andnobly for the unity of the land they loved, and that thousands of themsleep their last sleep in unmarked graves on the sea and the land. Thewriter can remember whole companies, of which nearly half of the numbercould be classed as mere boys. These boys of eighteen to twenty, whosurvived the rain of bullets, shot, and shell, and the hardly less fatalassaults of disease, are the middle-aged men of to-day, and every oneof them has a thrilling story to tell. The boys of to-day read withinterest the narratives of the boys of thirty years ago, and listen withtheir blood deeply stirred to the recital of the veteran of forty-fiveyears, or even younger, who brought back to his home only one arm orone leg.

  In his youth the author used to listen to the stories of several agedRevolutionary pensioners, one of whom had slept in the snows of ValleyForge, another who had been confined on board of the Jersey prison-ship,and a third who had been with Washington at the surrender of Cornwallis.Not one lives to-day who fought in the battles of the Revolution; buta multitude of those who trod the battle-fields of the war that wasfinished twenty-seven years ago have taken their places, and have becomeas interesting to the present generation as the heroes of former warswere to the fathers and grandfathers of the boys and girls of to-day.

  In the official record of a certain regiment recruited up to the fullstandard, we find that 47.5 per cent of the non-commissioned officersand privates were under twenty-one years of age. We find a few in thelist who were only sixteen and seventeen years. In this regiment, wefind two captains only twenty-one years of age, and three lieutenantswho were only twenty. This regiment was exceptional in regard to age,though we find that over twenty-five per cent of several companies,taken at random, were under age. Even boys of fourteen and fifteen wereenlisted as musicians, "drummer boys," and served out their full term.It can, therefore, be truthfully said, that those who were literally"boys" did their full and fair share in fighting for the Union. Perhapseven a larger proportion of minors served in the navy than in the army;and the record of some of them could be recited to prove that in thosedays boys became men prematurely, and distinguished themselves by braveand daring deeds.

  The incidents of the story contained in this volume are suggested byactual occurrence during the Rebellion, though they are not absolutelyhistorical details, but are as probable as many real events of the war.The enemy were busy in some of the Northern cities, and there were manydaring operations undertaken by them which justify the story in itsprincipal features. Most of the characters have been introduced in thepreceding volumes of the series; and in the succeeding volume the herowill be presented in a somewhat different field of action, though inwhatever sphere he moves he will continue to be engaged in "FIGHTINGFOR THE RIGHT."

  Dorchester, Mass., April 23, 1891.

  CONTENTS