sible of the difficulties that beset the historian of this period,
the author does not sympathize with the view that the events
of that time cannot be narrated with reasonable fairness
and justice to all concerned. The time has come when the
history of reconstruction can be written, and it ought to be
written by a Southerner, for it is the Southerners who best
understand the problems which the reconstructionists under-
took to solve and the conditions under which the solution
was worked out. This, of course, does not mean that the
history should be written from the Southern "point of view"
or from any other "point of view," unless it be that from
which the truth may be best discovered and presented.

The author of this book feels keenly his own prejudices,
but he has made an earnest effort to divest himself of every
influence arising from early environment or from later edu-
cation that would tend to swerve him from a plain and
unprejudiced statement of the truth, and has endeavored to
set forth his findings without fear or favor, but with charity
for both reconstructionists and reconstructed. Most of the
events recorded in this book occurred before the writer was
born; not one of them is recent enough to come within reach
of his memory. He is not, therefore, handicapped by any
prejudices founded on personal observation or experience.

On the whole, the author concurs in the view of Lamar-
tine, that it is the province of the historian to relate and not
to judge. He has, therefore, except in a few instances where
opinions were clearly warranted by the facts, confined him-
self to a simple statement of the truth and left the reader to
form his own conclusions.

In concluding these preliminary remarks the author de-
sires to acknowledge his indebtedness to ex-Governor Adel-
bert Ames, ex-Governor R. C. Powers, Mrs. ex-Governor
J. L. Alcorn, ex-Senator H. R. Pease, Hon. C. E. Furlong,
Major Alvan C. Gillem, and Mrs. Betty Dent Smith for
placing at his disposal private papers of historical value; to
Hon. H. M. Street, Judge H. F. Simrall, and Hon. John R.
Lynch for information conveyed through private letters; to

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