Produced by David Edwards, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) [Illustration: "WATER!" HE MURMURED, "WATER!" _Page 115._] _The Blue and the Gray--On Land_ AN UNDIVIDED UNION BY OLIVER OPTIC AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD, FIRST AND SECOND SERIES" "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES" "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE STORIES" "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES" "THE LAKE SHORE SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB SERIES" "THE RIVERDALE STORIES" "THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES" "THE BLUE AND THE GRAY--AFLOAT" "ALL OVER THE WORLD--FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD SERIES" "THE BLUE AND THE GRAY--ON LAND" ETC. ETC. ETC. COMPLETED BY EDWARD STRATEMEYER AUTHOR OF "THE OLD GLORY SERIES" "BOUND TO SUCCEED SERIES" ETC. BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 1899 COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY LEE AND SHEPARD. _All Rights Reserved._ AN UNDIVIDED UNION. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. _To My Friend_ FRED D. IRISH WHOSE ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT AND SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS IN DISTRIBUTING MY BOOKS AMONG THE YOUTH OF THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN A CONSTANT INSPIRATION _This Work is Affectionately Dedicated_ PUBLISHERS' PREFACE The outline and incomplete material of AN UNDIVIDED UNION were left among the papers of the late William T. Adams ("Oliver Optic"), and the same notes that were to complete the "Blue and Gray--On Land" series also closed the life-work of America's best-known writer of boys' stories. There has been a constant demand that this unfinished concluding volume be prepared for publication, and Mr. Edward Stratemeyer, author of the remarkably popular "Old Glory" series, based upon the Spanish-American war, undertook the task of picking up the threads of the narrative and carrying it to such a conclusion as was evidently intended. He has performed the work devotedly and successfully, and sustained the harmony of the series to the end. The publishers take this opportunity to pay tribute to the memory of Mr. Adams, whose name has been inseparably connected with this house for so many years. Such was his loyalty that no manuscript for publication in bound form was ever given to any other publisher, and the present volume is the one hundred and eighth to bear the magical name of "Optic." It is gratifying to be able to record that in return for his steadfastness in remaining by the house of his choice through prosperity and adversity an actual sale of more than two million copies of Mr. Adams's books has been reached, while the present season finds them enjoying undiminished favor.