The story of the Thirty Eighth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
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GEORGE W. POWERS.
Cambridge Press:
DAKIN AND METCALF.
1866.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by GEORGE W. POWERS. In the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

In the following pages, an attempt has been made to present a connected and reliable account of the movements of the Thirty Eighth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers during its term of service in the army of the United States. It has not been the purpose of the writer to describe the movements of armies, or chronicle the results of campaigns, except to illustrate more fully the doings of the regiment. Even in the record of battles, he has rather endeavored to confine himself to the particular part taken by the regiment, than to any more extended view; and has preferred to give more prominence to those smaller matters peculiar to its experience. Nothing has been drawn from imagination, and no attempt made at word-painting. Neither has it been attempted to describe the scenery of the country, or the manners of the people, in the region where the regiment performed its service. The scope of the work would not allow of this.
Where all, or nearly all, did their duty to the best of their ability, it would be invidious to single out a few, and bring them into prominent notice. Consequently, individual names seldom occur in the text; and where they do, it is only to illustrate some movement, or give a clearer idea of the occurrences alluded to. During thirty-two of the thirty-five months’ service here recorded, the writer was constantly with his regiment, and noted down the daily events, for the benefit of friends at home. For the remaining time, including a large part of the campaign in the Shenandoah, when he was sick in hospital, he is indebted to the letters, diaries, and conversations of his messmates, Messrs. Joseph G. Bartlett, Richard A. Fitzgerald, and Nathaniel Monroe. He would also return his thanks to Adjutant Wellington, for valuable official papers, and for assistance, and to Lieut.-Col. Richardson, and Captains Rundlet, Bennett, Jewell, Howland, and Davis, for the muster-out rolls of the regiment.