Editor's Preface.

THIRD EDITION.

The reader has now in hand a copy of the third edition, which we look upon with considerable pride, inasmuch as it is considerably improved, both in contents, and typographical appearance, eight pages having been added and several poems extracted and replaced by others of greater interest and merit, that add materially to the value of the collection, which we can now safely pronounce "the first two years of the war," complete. We feel a just pride in this, also from the fact, that, it being the third edition, it is thus the certain indication of the succes of our undertaking, which we have the gratification of announcing, is still further ensured by the fact, that, even before this goes to press, a fourth edition has been ordered, to meet the immediate demands of our Subscription Lists; not one copy, as yet, having been dispos ed of in the regular book trade; and so the good work progresses. In regard to the book trade, it is a noticeable fact, since the issue of our work, no less than four volumes of more or less importance, have been placed before the public, each and all using much of the same material collected by us in advance, and, to which, we therefore claim a prior right; but we feel, with our friends, that there is room enough for all, with the gratification of knowing, that our work was the first in the field, as the date of the copyright (Oct. 29th, 1862,) and the time of our first issue, fully proves-together with the fact,

that our work is issued for a better cause, and higher purpose than mere individual profit. We feel it incumbent upon us to put on record the above facts, merely giving in conjunction the

PREFACE OF THE FIRST EDITION.

In presenting this collection of Poems to the American Public, it is not the intention of the Editor to claim for them the highest literary excellence, or offer them as the finished productions of the highest standard of poetical ability of the country, as a glance at the signatures affixed to each will at once show; for although we have selected as much as possible from our best writers, we have not confined ourselves exclusively to that class, from the fact, that had we done so, our field would have been very limited, our collection very incomplete, and many productions of decided merit, would, in consequence, have been excluded; therefore, we do not offer them as the Ne Plus Ultra of literary excellence, but simply as a series of PenPictures of the War, such as have from time to time welled up from the great heart of the Nation, when deeply moved by some great national, or individual event; and, as such, we think we here offer all that could be desired even by the most fastidious.

Every Nation, civilized and savage, have their war-songs, war-hymns, war-anthems, and war-ballads,—and why not America? Even in the face of the assertion, made by the learned editor of the "National Hymns," to the effect, that there was not a Poet in the land who possessed sufficient ability to give an acceptable anthem to the people-an assertion which is re futed every hour of the day by the untutored voice of childhood along our streets, the bass of the mechanic in the work

shop, as well as cultivated vocal strains, which proceed from the purfumed parlors of the higher circles of society! The great mistake of our cotemporary, laid in the fact, that he was looking for a grand National Epic, one calculated to suit the refined ear, and exalted taste of the critic, instead of some sublime metrical harmony, which would sweep like an angel's fingers over the sensitive spirit-strings of the human heart, and produce those sympathetic strains, which linger on the ear-which dwell in the memory, and reverberate through the land, until at length a whole nation taking up the theme, hymn it before the Nation's Altar! It is just such metrical harmonies as this, that we have sought for, and found, and here present to the reader-we care not for the critic-feeling satisfied that the great voice of the people will, in the future, render a verdict in our favor.

In making this collection, it is but proper here to state, that we have gathered together no less than four thousand poems, all possessed of more or less merit, yet, as a matter of course, unfit for our purpose, which was to secure a series of Pen Pictures, descriptive-not of the most important events of the War, for that would be simply metrical history,—but of those events which have relation to the individual, that each and every particular poem might come home to some heart, and there find its abiding place through all time, im so doing, one fact, above all others, has occurred to us as most singular, it is this :-that, as most of England's war-ballads are of a Naval, just to the same extent are those of America of a Military character exclusively, as not more than ten or twelve Naval poems have been written during the entire war, which fact, when taken in connection with the very large share which our Navy has taken in the struggle, is, to say the

least, remarkable, and can only be accounted for by the fact, that our war is internecine, instead of international; and yet, this of itself is hardly sufficient to satisfy us upon this mooted point, of which we here make passing mention, to account for the almost entire absence of all naval poems in this collection.

In regard to the design of the work, it was at first the intention of the Editor, to make it an exact chronological history of all the principal events of the war, by affixing the date, and locale of each event to some particular poem, which might be found best adapted to each and all; but this purpose had soon to be set aside as entirely impracticable, from the fact, that those events soon became so numerous that our space would not permit a record of even one-half which had occurred, so we have simply confined the work to those only of the greatest importance.

With these few necessary introductory remarks, we will without further hesitation submit the work to the reader, trusting that it will meet all reasonable expectations, and serve, eventually, to lighten the sufferings of those little ones, who are left homeless and destitute in our midst, by the sad casualties of this great National struggle.

NEW YORK, October 7, 1863.