Within The Enemy's Lines   By: Oliver Optic (1822-1897)

TAKEN BY THE ENEMY WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ON THE BLOCKADE In Press

Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston

[Illustration: "He saw Two Men making their way through the Grove." Page 28.]

The

BLUE AND THE GRAY

Series

[Illustration]

By Oliver Optic

WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES

The Blue and the Gray Series

WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES

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 Stories," "The Onward and Upward Series," "The Yacht Club Series," "The Lake Shore Series," "The Riverdale Series," "The Boat Builder Series," "Taken by the Enemy," etc.

BOSTON 1890 Lee and Shepard Publishers 10 Milk Street Next "The Old South Meeting House"

NEW YORK Chas. T. Dillingham 718 and 720 Broadway

Copyright, 1889, by Lee and Shepard All rights reserved.

WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.

A MON JEUNE AMI, (que je n'ai jamais vu, et que je ne connais pas,)

Monsieur Lucien Bing, de Paris, France,

En Reconnaissance de la Bonté de son Père, Cette Historiette de la Guerre Civile en Amerique Est affectueusement Dédié.

PREFACE

"WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES" is the second volume of "The Blue and the Gray Series." Like its predecessor, of course, its scenes are connected with the war of the Rebellion; and perhaps the writer ought to be thankful that he is not required in such a work to rise to the dignity of history, but he believes that all his events were possible, and that every one of them has had its parallel in the actual occurrences of the historic period of which he writes. In fact, some of the experiences of the actors in the terrible drama of a quarter of a century ago would pass more readily for fiction than for reality, and detailed on the pages of a story would be deemed impossible by the conservative reader.

The nation has passed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent spirit on the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing and strengthening, in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on both sides on the part of those who have not outlived the bitterness of the past, and who probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly come when the memories of the conflict, the repetition of the stories of the war, and even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of both sides, will excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to the War of the Roses in England.

In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story, relate his history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his own standpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough to tolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and plays relating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap between the days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires are not rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great United Nation still lives on in perfect peace.

The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair the growing harmony between the two sections which have happily become one, or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since the strife ended with any of its bitterness. He has endeavored to make as high toned men on the one side as the other, with the same moral sentiment in the one party as the other, and to exhibit their only difference in the one great question of Union or Disunion.