Excerpt from Our Civil War: A Lecture Delivered in Portland, Maine Now, after this long introduction I must state that I have two Objects in view. I propose to give you a few personal Sketches of the chief men who are figuring on both sides of this unhappy contest. Almost all of them I knew personally. Next, a few words relative to the character of Southern troops in contrast with that of Northern troops, and then conclude with some appropriate remarks contrastive of the traitor and patriot. I trust you Will not accuse me of vanity when I inform you that I was one of the official reporters in the United States Senate when Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Thomas H. Benton, John C. Calhoun, and many others now no more, were prominent characters on that floor, and when many living characters now acting a prominent part in our country's history were there also. With all these men my professional occupation as a reporter brought me in almost daily contact; so that, in almost every case, what I have to say is derived from personal knowledge. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.