Edward Everett Hale

I have no sort of objection now to telling the whole story. The subscribers, of course, have a right to know what became of their money. The astronomers may as well know all about it, before they announce any more asteroids with an enormous movement in declination. And experimenters on the longitude may as well know, so that they may act advisedly in attempting another brick moon or in refusing to do so. . . .

First published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1863 and written to inspire patriotism and combat Northern sympathy with the Confederacy during the Civil War, this classic story met with immediate praise and acceptance. It concerns the fate of Philip Nolan, a young army officer who was caught up in the eddies of the Aaron Burr affair of 1807, and the granting of his wish "to never hear the name of the United States again."