Twelve Months with the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry in the Service of the United States

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
Col. William A. Pew, jr.
By HARRY E. WEBBER
With an Introduction by Maj. Gen. J. P. Sanger, U. S. A. (retired). Sometime Commander of the Third Division, First Army Corps, U. S. A.
SALEM, MASS. Newcomb & Gauss, Printers 1908
Copyright, 1908 By Harry E. Webber
To the Officers and Men of the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry, U. S. V., this volume is dedicated

It is a habit with the citizens of old Essex, one of the pioneer counties of the grand old Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to point with pride to the fact that since the earliest days of the settlement, she was ever ready to take up arms at the country's call, and her sons were always found ready and willing to go forth to do battle for what they believed to be the right.
The record of her soldiers and sailors is a splendid one, and her sons have nobly represented her on land and on sea. It is perhaps a far cry from the early days of the settlement to the opening of hostilities in the last conflict at arms in which the men of the county figured.
In the earlier events the hazards of warfare were perhaps more, but on the other hand, in those days it was necessary for all men able to handle a gun to fight, while in the recent clash at arms the men who answered their country's call volunteered their services, seeking the privilege of bearing arms rather than having the duty forced upon them. Honor to them all, not only for what they did, but all they dared.