Transcriber’s Note:
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.
A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF ST. LOUIS IN 1860.
[Frontispiece
THE STORY OF A BORDER CITY DURING THE CIVIL WAR
AN EXPLANATION
I have been frequently urged by men in differentparts of the country to write out, and give to the public,the story of St. Louis during the Civil War. Havinghad of late my time largely at my own disposal, I determinedto yield to these earnest solicitations. But I havefound the task somewhat more difficult than I anticipated.While all that I saw in St. Louis, and all in whichI participated, came back to my mind with remarkablefreshness and vividness, I have been compelled, becauseof the lapse of time since the war, to verify my recollectionsby wide reading and painstaking research. I havetried to weigh impartially what has been said both bythose who were for, and those who were against, theUnion.
Upon some points pertaining to military operations inSt. Louis and Missouri, I have found considerableconflicting testimony. In such cases I have either givenauthorities on both sides, or, having sifted the evidencepro and con, have presented what seemed to me to be,at least approximately, the historical facts. And whilein some instances I may have come short of absoluteaccuracy, in all my statements I have earnestly endeavoredto present the exact truth.
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