Via David
The war songs of the South are a part of the history of the Lost Cause. They are necessary to the impartial historian in forming a correct estimate of the animus of the Southern people.
Emotional literature is always a correct exponent of public sentiment, and these songs index the passionate sincerity of the South at the time they were written.
Poetic merit is not claimed for all of them; still each one embodies either a fact or a principle. Written in an era of war, when the public mind was thoroughly aroused, some may now appear harsh and vindictive. Eight millions of people read and sang them. This fact alone warrants their collection and preservation.
A greater number of the songs have been gathered from Southern newspapers. The task has been laborious, but still a labor of love, as no work of this kind has before been offered to the public.
Thanks are due Mr. Henri Wehrman, of New Orleans, for permission to use valuable copyrights, also to the Oliver Ditson Co., Boston; A. E. Blackmar, New Orleans; and J. C. Schreiner, Savannah, Ga. Mr. G. N. Galloway, Philadelphia, has given material assistance.
The work is not complete, still the compiler claims for it the largest and only collection of Confederate songs published.
W. L. FAGAN.
Havana, Ala., December 1, 1889.
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