It is said that when Dr. Johnson first heard of Boswell's intention to write his life, he said emphatically that if he thought Boswell ideally meant to write his life, he would prevent it by taking Boswell's! It is possible that some of my readers may wish that the author's name had been enrolled years ago among the list of killed in some one of the battles so imperfectly described in these pages.<br><br>It is over twenty years since the war closed, and the writer has waited, hoping that some one more capable would perform the task of recording the deeds of the New York "Highlanders."<br><br>Objection has frequently been - made and with a good deal of reason - that all regimental histories represent their organizations as doing most of the fighting and least of the running. Well, "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" may be applied as properly to volunteer regiments that fought during the war, and whose existence ended with its close, as to individuals, and if we should speak no ill of the dead, neither, perhaps, should we say aught but good of our own regiments. The writer has not adhered strictly to this rule, however, as his pages will show.<br><br>It may be thought that, in the accounts of battles, the parts taken by associate regiments are not sufficiently described; but it must be remembered that this is the history of but one regiment.