Publisher's Synopsis
The following compendium of the principal events in the History of the old Union have been gathered from reliable data. The matter was originally prepared for the "Confederate States Almanac," for 1862, and is now re-published with some corrections, and many additions. The Diary of the War has been compiled with care and considerable labor, having to search and sift out dates and facts from the often-times contradictory statements of dispatches and correspondence. Great pains have been taken to avoid errors; and we believe that the facts are correct, although in many instances an approximation to correctness is all that can be obtained in a matter like this, made up from the sources at hand. The losses of the Confederates in battle was made from official Reports, whenever such reports have been published, and from reliable correspondence. The Federal losses in battle have been taken from the reports of Confederate officers, as no reliance can be placed in Federal accounts. It is a notorious fact that they are always underrating their losses in every engagement with the Southern forces. Their official Reports are seldom, if ever, published. The Narrative of the Battle of Shiloh was written by Alexander Walker, of the New Orleans Delta. The sketch was published in parts, in the columns of the Delta, and is now published complete for the first time. It is one of the most graphic descriptions of a battle ever written.
