The First Battle of Bull Run

This book does not attempt to trace the causes of The American Civil War. There are even yet more matters of controversy than of exact history. We are concerned merely with its military history. We want to learn the lessons from its campaigns, and to do so to the best advantage we must forget the sectional prejudice we may have imbibed in our childhood. Indeed we must forget, if we have not already done so, much of the fiction we were taught, under the guise of history, in the school-rooms of our youth. We must strive to get at the exact truth of events, and then study coldly, critically, comparatively, not only the faults and mistakes of opposing commanders and troops, but also their examples of skill and excellence. We want to appreciate, if we can, the causes of success on the one hand, and of failure on the other, in every case.