Dedication
the battle-pieces
REVISION NARRATIVE: At some point, someone scissored away the originally blank top third of the dedication page, presumably to remove text inscribed above the print dedication. One likelihood is that Melville had added an inscription in ink, perhaps signing and dating it, and it was removed for the autograph.
in this volume are dedicated
to the memory of the
T H R E E H U N D R E D T H O U S A N D
who in the war
for the maintenance of the union
fell devotedly
under the flag of their fathers.