Simmons Family Tree

PREFACE
It is not the purpose of this volume to bring the Author into prominence. He has never sought notoriety and does not seek it now. Its purpose is to satisfy the often expressed wish of his children and a host of friends to have in permanent form the record of a life that has been full of adventure and replete with incidents of deadly peril, miraculous escapes, and physical endurance that will satisfy the reader that, “There is a destiny that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may,” and nothing but a divine Providence could have led the author through it all in safety.
While the record of the early years of my life, those eventful years that gave me the title of “The Kid of the Plains” might have been written years ago, not so with that part of my life that was woven into the Secret Service in the North as well as in the South during the great Civil War. These records I could not have made public before this time without danger to my life and the lives of others. Therefore, I have held my peace and only occasionally given in public recitals a few of the incidents of my early career.
Now that nearly a half century has passed and knowing that I shall soon have to answer the last Roll Call and take my place in the ranks of the Grand Army above and at the earnest solicitation of my children who have besought me to leave a record of my life, I now give to them and to the Comrades of the “Grand Army of the Republic” these imperfect sketches of the life of one who has tried to be true to his God, his Country, and his family and friends. I ask no one aside from these to believe the statements made in this volume.
With a profound realization of my own weakness and shortcomings and with a declaration of unwavering faith in Almighty God, and undying love for my country and my country’s Flag, I dedicate this volume to my family and my Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic.
L. W. Simmons