Ebook The Military Annals of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1740 1865

The purpose of this work needs neither explanation nor excuse; its short-comings, perhaps no one will more severely accuse than the author, while none but he can well appreciate the difficulties that have beset his patriotic task. The names and exploits of the local heroes who, with lavish expenditure of labor and life, helped gain and perpetuate the political and religious liberty we inherit, are mostly unknown to our generation. We perfunctorily honor the memory of those who achieved national fame - those whose names by chance of opportunity or high place are emblazoned upon historic tablets. Equally entitled to our grateful remembrance are the humbler patriots who, setting the nation's safety and liberation from wrong above the dearest ties, went out from rustic homesteads patiently to do and suffer, even to mortal agony, in behalf of country, faith and freedom. Though but yeomen, uncult and obscure, they were imbued with a spirit of chivalry pure as that of any knight of romance. The stern virtues of Puritan ancestry again shone in them. If their deeds and sacrifices gained little lustre that time has not dimmed or destroyed, it is the fault of the local chroniclers.