Ebook History of the One Hundred and Sixty-First Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry

A preface is not an apology; a book that needs an apology ought never be written. Every man of a regiment is a part of its life, and to be a soldier is an experience that comes to most men but once and makes an important chapter in the history of every man thus privileged. Who. that was there, can ever forget the life we led together; our camps, our marches, our reviews, the life of a day and the evening till taps! These will be remembered without a written history, but there are offices which only a written record can fulfill; that of acquainting the regiment's friends with the history so familiar to its members and of furnishing exact historical and numerical data, the value of which increases with time, and the perusal of which, when memory is less distinct, will make it all happen again as it did in '98 and '99. The preparation of such a work is no easy task, and all the more difficult when the author has kept no diary or chronicle of events. The information herein contained has been gathered from every available source, but every detail fully verified before giving it place in these pages. For the hearty co-operation of his fellow officers the fullest appreciation is here expressed by him who has undertaken this work. Some have rendered a material aid without which the present value of the book would have been impossible. Special acknowledgment is due to Lieutenant Goodrich for his share in the preparation of the Savannah chapter, and to Dr. George B. Jones for like service in the section devoted to the medical department.