We are in the midst of a revolution in which the instinct of Southern women has anticipated the logic of our statesmen and the ardor of our soldiers. The heart of GERTRUDE, in SCHILLER'S “Wilhelm Tell,” beats in the bosom of every Southern wife. And more than one fair daughter of the South, adopting the aphorism of old FLETCHER of Saltown, have contributed to this collection of War Songs.

Many of the songs have been composed by soldiers in camp, and nearly all have particular reference to some event of the war, some of battle, or individual act of heroism. Written cotemporaneously with the achievements which they celebrate, they possess all the vitality in force of the testimony of eyewitnesses to a glorious combat, or even of actors in it. The spontaneous outburst of popular feeling, they give the lie to the assertion of our enemy that this revolution is the work of politicians and party leaders alone.

Through the Poet's Corner in the newspaper, they have sped their flight from and to the heart and mind of the people. They showed which way the wind was blowing, when war arose “a little cloud like a man's hand,” and, black as the heaven may now appear, they bravely sing above the storm, soaring so high that their wings are brightened by the sun beyond the clouds.

They cannot fail to challenge the attention of the philosophic historian by their origin and their influence. It was no false oracle at Delphi which bade the alarmed Lacedæmonians seek a general at Athens; for the songs of lame TYRTÆUS, the schoolmaster, whom the Athenians contemptuously sent to them, reänimated their courage, and led them on to victory over the Messinians. In every age, martial songs have wrought wonders in struggles for national independence.

And surely, these newspaper waifs have played no unimportant part in the actual drama which surrounds us. Convinced that their wealth of patriotic sentiment is too precious to be lost, I have gleaned through the fields of newspaper literature, and have bound up this volume as one binds up a sheaf of golden. I need not disguise the pleasure with which I bring such a gift to the thousands of unknown friends whose flattering reception of the letters of “Bohemian” has consoled and cheered me in camp, on the battle-field, on the bed of sickness, and as a prisoner of war.

I must also express my thanks to Prof. W. S. CHASE, of Richmond College, and J. R. THOMPSON, Esq., former Editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, for having placed at my disposal a collection previously made by them, and for which, as well as for the present collection, corrected copies of most of the songs have been kindly furnished by the writers themselves.

A single volume of ordinary size cannot contain a tithe of the songs which have already appeared and are daily appearing. This, however, offers enough to show that, during the present eventful period, what was said of the early Spaniard is true of the Southron:—“He has been unconsciously surrounding history with the light of imagination—linking great names with great deeds—concentrating those universal recollections in which every one feels he has a part, and silently building up the fabric of national poetry on the basis of national enthusiasm.”