It was assumed on Fast Day that one should criticise only what he saw.  I have never understood that Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” is any the less good because he did not live in the first few centuries of the Christian era, or that Jomini could write any less well of Frederick than of Napoleon.  Service certainly helps a man in his researches or work, but it only helps.  The best critic may be one who never served.  I think I was the first officer to whom the Secretary of War permitted free use of the rebel archives for study.  I have had good opportunities.  How I have used them, I leave to others to say.  It is easy to capture a meeting of honest-hearted veterans by such lamentable prestidigitation as was exhibited on Fast Day, and to pass any resolutions desired, by appealing to their enthusiasm.  I prefer to be judged by the sober after-thought of men who are neither partisans, nor ready to warp facts or make partial statements to sustain their theories.

TheodoreA. Dodge. 
Boston, April 10, 1886.

Transcriber’s Appendix:  Transcription notes: 

The first edition of this book was published in 1881.  The author’s appendix was added in the second edition, in 1886, which is the source for this etext.

The following modifications were applied while transcribing the printed book to e-text: 

 chapter 4
  — table on p 19, fixed typo ("McGown”, should be “McGowan”)

 chapter 12
  — p 71, para 1, fixed typo ("inititate”)

 chapter 18
  — p 111, para 1, fixed typo ("Pleasanton”)

 chapter 27
  — p 180, para 1, fixed “the the”

 Limitations imposed by converting to plain ASCII: 
  — The words “manoeuvre”, “manoeuvres” and “manoeuvring” are printed in
    the book using the “oe” ligature.  The term “coup d’oeil” was also
    printed with the “oe” ligature, “minutiae” was printed using the “ae”
    ligature, and several other French terms (such as “elan” and “echelon”)
    were printed with accented vowels.  However, this does not seem enough
    to merit an 8-bit text.
  — Italics were printed for various non-English words and phrases, and
    occasionally for emphasis.  For the most part, these were simply
    converted to plain text.  However, I did use underscores to denote
    two italicized phrases in the author’s appendix, where the use of
    italics was more significant.

I did not modify:  — The phrases “on each side the road”, “on both sides the road” — The first paragraph of chapter 22 contains the phrase
     “angle of refusal or Archer and McGowan”
   I believe “or” is incorrect and should be probably “for” or “of”, but
   I don’t know which. “or” is printed in both the 1881 and 1886 editions,
   so I left it as is.

*** End of the project gutenberg EBOOK, the campaign of Chancellorsville ***