Read Brother Against Brother; Or, The War on the Border Page 1
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER
Or, The War on the Border
_The Blue and the Gray Army Series_
by
OLIVER OPTIC
Author of "The Army and Navy Series" "Young America Abroad, First andSecond Series" "Boat-Club Stories" "The Great Western Series" "TheOnward and Upward Series" "The Woodville Stories" "The Starry FlagSeries" "The Yacht-Club Series" "The Lake Shore Series" "The RiverdaleStories" "The All-Over-the-World Library" "The Blue and the Gray NavySeries" "The Boat-Builder Series" etc.
BostonLee and Shepard Publishers10 Milk Street1894
Copyright, 1894, by Lee and Shepard
All Rights Reserved
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER
Electrotyping by C. J. Peters & Son, Boston, U.S.A.
Presswork by S. J. Parkhill & Co.
TO My Son-in-Law GEORGE W. WHITE, ESQUIRE ONE OF TWO WHO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME TO ME AS REAL SONS This Book IS AFFECTIONATELY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED
"THE OVERSEER ELEVATED HIS RIFLE."]
PREFACE
"Brother Against Brother" is the first of "The Blue and the Gray ArmySeries," which will include six volumes, though the number is contingentupon the longevity of one, still hale and hearty, who has passed by acouple of years the Scriptural limit of "threescore years and ten"allotted to human life. In completing the first six books of "The Blueand the Gray Series," the author realized that the scenes and events ofall these stories related to life in the navy, which gallantly performedits full share in maintaining the integrity of the Union. The six booksof "The Army and Navy Series," begun in the heat of the struggle thirtyyears ago, were equally divided between the two arms of the service; andit has been suggested that the equilibrium should be continued in thelater volumes.
In the preface of "A Victorious Union," the consummation of the terriblestrife which the navy had reached in that volume, the author announcedhis intention to make a beginning of the books which are to form thearmy division of the series. Soon after he had returned from hissixteenth voyage across the Atlantic, he found himself in excellentcondition to resume the pleasurable occupation in which he has beenengaged for forty years in this particular field. It seems to him verymuch like embarking in a new enterprise, though his work consists of anattempt to enliven and diversify the scenes and incidents of an oldstory which has passed into history, and is forever embalmed as therecord of a heroic people, faithfully and bravely represented onhundreds of gory battle-fields, and on the decks of the national navy.
The story opens in one of the Border States, where two Northern familieshad settled only a few years before the exciting questions whichimmediately preceded organized hostilities were under discussion.Considerable portions of the State in which they were located were in acondition of violent agitation, and outrages involving wounds and deathwere perpetrated. The head of one of these two families was a man ofstern integrity, earnestly loyal to the Union and the government whichwas forced into a deadly strife for its very existence. That of theother, influenced quite as much by property considerations as by fixedprinciples, becomes a Secessionist, fully as earnest as, and far moredemonstrative than, his brother on the other side.
In each of these families are two sons, just coming to the military age,who are not quite so prominent in the present volume as they will be inthose which follow it. "Riverlawn," the plantation which came into thepossession of the loyal one by the will of his eldest brother, becamethe scene of very exciting events, in which his two sons took an activepart. The writer has industriously examined the authorities coveringthis section of the country, including State reports, and believes hehas not exaggerated the truths of history. As in preceding volumesrelating to the war, he does not intend to give a connected narrative ofthe events that transpired in the locality he has chosen, though some ofthem are introduced and illustrated in the story.
The State itself, as evidenced by the votes of its Legislature and bythe enlistments in the Union army, was loyal, if not from the beginning,from the time when it obtained its bearings. As in other SouthernStates, the secession element was more noisy and demonstrative than theloyal portion of the community, and thus obtained at first an apparentadvantage. The present volume is largely taken up with the conflict forsupremacy between these hostile elements. The loyal father and his twosons are active in these scenes; and the taking possession of a quantityof military supplies by them precipitates actual warfare, and thequestion as to whether or not a company of cavalry could be recruited atRiverlawn had to be settled by what amounted to a real battle.
To the multitude of his young friends now in their teens, and to thegreater multitude now grown gray, who have encouraged his efforts duringthe last forty years, the author renewedly acknowledges his manifoldobligations for their kindness, and wishes them all health, happiness,and all the prosperity they can bear.