PREFACE.



have done all, and more, too, than I ought to have done, and yet failed.
The work is now done, and I have endeavored to execute my task
with candor and fidelity, avoiding all false coloring and exaggeration.
In preparing this work, that course best adapted to suit the age, has
been pursued. The style of the work is not labored, but brief, plain
and simple, as the purpose in writing it required. I hope it is neither
barbarous nor ungrammatical, for, though I make no claim to
elegance, I have endeavored to be correct, concise and intelligible.
It has been my endeavor to present the series of events in a clear and
artless form, rejecting whatever was deemed irrelevant, and dwelling
chiefly upon those features most important.  Considering the long
period embraced, the multiplied number of characters and events
delineated, the extent of the field covered, the preservation of
historical unity has been no easy task. If any deficiences are found,
they ought to be referred rather to the judgment than a willingness to
spare myself the care and tedium requisite to avoid them.
    That ill-fed and wounded vanity, small envy, jealousy and self-
inflated opinion may instigate hostility to the work, I expect, but to
the people of Henderson and Henderson County, the work is
submitted with a profound deference, and in the hope that it may
meet with that indulgence accorded works whose destiny has been
regarded with far less solicitude. In spite of all my efforts to the
contrary, some typographical errors remain in the copy, but they are
so obvious that anyone can correct them.
    I have gratefully to acknowledge the assistance of a number
persons; particularly, I must mention Colonel E. W. Worsham, Dr.
P. Thompson, Robert A. Holloway, Walter S. Alves, Charles T.
Starling, Thos. E. Ward, Larkin White, E. L. Starling, Jr., Ben
Harrison, Hon. P. B. Matthews, Dr. H. H. Farmer, Thomas Soaper,
John T. Ruby, Jacob F. Mayer, Geo. H. Steele, L. F. Wise, W. S. and
C. H. Johnson, Geo. W. Smith, S. A. Young and Hawkins Hart.
                                 Respectfully,
                                          E. L. STARLING.