University of Virginia Library

DEDICATION.

Allow me, sir, to inscribe with your name, this book of Washington and his
Generals, as illustrated in the Legends of the Revolution.

To you, as Editor and Proprietor of the first literary journal in the country — a
journal which numbering its readers by hundreds of thousands, has hitherto stood
alone in its proud devotion to the American Past—do I with sincere feelings of
respect for your heart and intellect, dedicate these Legends of the camp, the
council, and the field.

I am induced to make this Dedication, by a feeling of simple justice to myself
and you. Your paper has always been, not only the family paper of the Union, but
the Journal of Revolutionary Romance and History. As the Editor, you have ever
been untiring in your efforts, to preserve in its columns, the legends of our battlefields,
the chronicles of our early struggles for freedom, the memories of our illustrious
dead.

Your name therefore, by a sincere impulse of justice, I inscribe at the head of
these traditions, trusting that you will excuse the liberty I have taken, on account
of the feeling by which it is dictated.

There are other reasons which enter into the Spirit of this Dedication. Last
summer, when my good name as a citizen, my honor as an author, was attacked in
the most licentious manner, by a band of obscene libellers—some of whom have
since made their humble and fawning apologies to me—you did not count the cost,
nor falter for a moment, but came out for me like a Man, and in the columns of
your paper, whipped the whole pack into their native obscurity.

This is strong language. The occasion demands it. The men who have made
me the object of their slander, ever since I published a line, are no less merciless
in their dealings with the unfortunate, than they are servile and truckling to the
rich and powerful. They would stab you in the back to-day, and lick the dust
from your shoes to-morrow.

Now, that I have surmounted their accumulated falsehoods—as much by your
honestly rendered aid, as by the voice of the Press throughout the land—I scorn
the humbly offered friendship of these men, as much as I ever scorned their petty
animosity. My earnest prayer will ever be—let creatures like these, born of the
atmosphere of malignity, and nurtured by the breath of falsehood, always remain
my enemies. When they become my friends, I will confess myself utterly unworthy
the respect of one honest man.

This work entitled, “Washington and his Generals, as illustrated in the Legends
of the Revolution,” may be described in one word, as an earnest attempt to
embody the scenes of the Past, in a series of Historical pictures. It is now four

years, since I first attempted this style of writing; with a sincere feeling of gratitude
to the Public and the Press, who have marked my labours with an approbation
too emphatic to be mistaken, I can honestly record the fact, that my attempts have
been eminently successful.

Some portion of these legends, were delivered in the form of Historical lectures,
before the William Wirt Institute, confessedly one of the first literary institutions
in the land. To the gentlemen of that institution, I shall ever remain grateful,
not only for the success of these lengeds, but for the uniform kindness and courtesy,
which marked their intercourse with me. It would be, perhaps, invidious to select
any one of their body for public notice, but I cannot let this occasion pass, without
expressing my sincere regard for S. Snyder Leidy, Esq., whose intellect was
always deeply interested in the annals of our Revolution. I shall always cherish
among the best memories of my life, my connection with the William Wirt
Institute.

Other portions of this work were delivered before the Institute of the Revolution:
Messrs. Jeffries and Dickson, of that association, will ever be remembered for their
kind endeavors in my behalf.

Nor can I in this dedication, be so forgetful of truth and gratitude, as to omit the
name of A. Henry Diller, Esq., who for five years, has been my unswerving friend,
and to whom I stand indebted for the flattering success of my illustrations of the
Revolution.

In conclusion, I may state without the imputation of vanity, that these Historical
pictures, their purpose and their style, beauties and defects, are the results of
my endeavors for five years past, to delineate in all its fullness, “the times that
tried men's souls.”

Not only Washington and his Generals, have I attempted to delineate in these
Legends, but it has been my purpose, to picture the scenes that went before the
Revolution, together with the heroic deeds of the Authors, Soldiers, and Statesmen
of '76; the patriotism of the humblest freeman, has been as dear to me, for the
purposes of illustration, as the moral grandeur of Washington, or the chivalric
daring of La Fayette. Some of the brightest gleams of poetry and romance, that
illumine our history, or the history of any other land and age, I have endeavored to
embody, in those pages of the present work, which relate to the deeds of the Hero-Women
of the Revolution.

With these introductory remarks, I submit to the public, and at the same time,
dedicate to you—Washington and his Generals, as illustrated in the Legends
of the Revolution.