The Military Adventures of Charles O'Neil

The history of times and events, of men and their characters, must ever be replete with interest and instruction. Chronicles of the great and wise, the noble and the learned, are often presented to the world; and the military hero and chieftain finds everywhere his biographer. We read of campaigns that his mind has traced out, of battles which his plans have won; and we forget, in our admiration of his skill and power, those by whom the heroic deeds were done, the victory gained. Generals, says one author, “often calculate upon men as though they were blocks of wood, or movable machines.” Yet every one of these nameless soldiers has feelings as acutely alive to suffering and to honor as those who look upon them thus.