Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations and maps. See 45603-h.htm or 45603-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45603/45603-h/45603-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45603/45603-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/twowarsanautobio00fren Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). [Illustration: SAMUEL G. FRENCH.] TWO WARS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEN. SAMUEL G. FRENCH, An Officer in the Armies of the United States and the Confederate States, A Graduate from the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, 1843. Mexican War; War between the States, a Diary; Reconstruction Period, His Experience; Incidents, Reminiscences, etc. Nashville, Tenn.: Confederate Veteran. 1901. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901, By Samuel G. French, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. _THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED_ TO _MY WIFE AND CHILDREN_, AND TO _THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS_ WHO BATTLED WITH THE INVADING FOE TO PROTECT OUR HOMES AND MAINTAIN THE CAUSE FOR WHICH OLIVER CROMWELL AND GEORGE WASHINGTON FOUGHT. PREFACE. Some years ago, when living on an orange grove at Winter Park, it occurred to me that my idle time might be usefully employed in transcribing from memoranda and my diary many incidents of my life for preservation in one manuscript for my children. This was continued at intervals until it became as here presented. It was mainly discontinued after my children became old enough to observe passing events for themselves. But inasmuch as a few books have been published containing errors in describing some military operations in which I participated, justice to the troops under my command induces me to publish my account of them as recorded when they occurred. This volume, then, is a simple narrative of passing events, without discussing their importance and bearing politically in shaping the destiny of the nation. Although my lot was cast with the South, and whatever may be my opinion of the action of the North before, during, and after the war as expressed in these pages, I am as loyal to the Constitution and as ready to uphold and maintain the rights and dignity of the United States as any man within its boundary; and this was evidenced when I tendered my services, as a soldier, to the President before war was declared against Spain.