Transcriber’s Note In what follows, italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Small capitals in the original text have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. See the end of this document for details of corrections and changes. ————————————— Start of Book ————————————— [Illustration: THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME] A MINOR WAR HISTORY COMPILED FROM A SOLDIER BOY’S LETTERS TO “THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME” 1861–1864 *.* _DRAMATIS PERSONÆ_ THE SOLDIER BOY MARTIN A. HAYNES _Company I, Second New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry_ “THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME” CORNELIA T. LANE _Now and for more than Fifty Years the Wife of the Soldier Boy_ *.* _LAKEPORT, N. H._ _PRIVATE PRINT OF MARTIN A. HAYNES_ _1916_ ************************ EDITION SIXTY COPIES THIS IS NO. AND IS PRESENTED TO WITH COMPLIMENTS OF MARTIN A. HAYNES ************************ PREAMBLE —————— _In gathering material for a history of the Second Regiment, one of my sources of information was a big bundle of letters, even then yellowing with age—my letters, covering a period of over three years, written to “The girl I left behind me.” These—with the elimination of such strictly personal matters as concerned only the two of us—were carefully copied, and the letters then given to the flames. Thirty years later, breaking the seals of that bundle of manuscript, I read with indescribable interest my own story of more than half a century ago. And the whim came upon me to put those scraps of war history into type and print a few copies, especially for members of the family. I can see an opening for only one regret. It will probably destroy an illusion of those four grandchildren—Marjorie and Warren, Martin and Eugene—as to their grandfather’s relative importance in the war, and while Grant and Sherman will be moved up one notch on the roll of those who put down the Great Rebellion, I will, very likely, have to be content with third place._