Produced by Shawn Cruze and PG Distributed Proofreaders
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"God so willed:
Mankind is ignorant! a man am I:
Call ignorance my sorrow, not my sin!"
"O, still as ever friends are they
Who, in the interest of outraged truth
Deprecate such rough handling of a lie!"
1880.
It has been assumed, and is generally believed, that the Anti-slaverystruggle, which, culminated in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862,originated in Infidelity, and was a triumph of Skepticism overChristianity. In no way can this error be so well corrected as by thepersonal history of those who took part in that struggle; and as most ofthem have passed from earth without leaving any record of the educationand motives which underlay their action, the duty they neglected becomesdoubly incumbent on the few who remain.
To supply one quota of the inside history of the great Abolition war, isthe primary object of this work; but scarcely secondary to this objectis that of recording incidents characteristic of the PeculiarInstitution overthrown in that struggle.
Another object, and one which struggles for precedence, is to give aninside history of the hospitals during the war of the Rebellion, thatthe American people may not forget the cost of that Government so oftenimperiled through their indifference.
A third object, is to give an analysis of the ground which produced the
Woman's Rights agitation, and the causes which limited its influence.
A fourth is, to illustrate the force of education and the mutability ofhuman character, by a personal narrative of one who, in 1836, would havebroken an engagement rather than permit her name to appear in print,even in the announcement of marriage; and who, in 1850, had as muchnewspaper notoriety as any man of that time, and was singularlyindifferent to the praise or blame of the Press;—of one who, in 1837,could not break the seal of silence set upon her lips by "Inspiration,"even so far as to pray with a man dying of intemperance, and who yet, in1862, addressed the Minnesota Senate in session, and as many others ascould be packed in the hall, with no more embarrassment than thoughtalking with a friend in a chimney corner.