Official Records

[Ohio88th1]

We all refer to the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion as the Bible of what took place during the Civil War, but how much of the records are we missing? I've heard many pertinent communications have been left out, never filed, lost, etc. I also know there is a 100 volume Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and that a Secret Service section was planned but never published. Did politics play a role in what records were published? I'm just interested in what we're missing of the 'official accounts'.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Well, I am not sure what you mean by "missing". Yes, some records went astray or were intentionally destroyed over time, but probably a substantial majority of official Union documents produced during the Civil War survive to this day. It is just that these documents are unpublished. They are also not lost and are in fact available to any member of the general public who cares to take the time and effort (and spend the money) to dig them out of whatever federal depository the National Archives and Record Administration has placed them in.

Now, if you are asking what kinds of unpublished documents there are as opposed to being available in the Official Records, I would not venture to speculate too much.The latter is mostly a selection of official military correspondence and reports (probably just a small fraction), but the former covers a multitude of possible categories including but not limited to unit rosters, general orders, special orders, records of trial by court-martial and military commissions, parole documents, unpublished correspondence, war diaries and countless others.

I don't know anything about the politics behind the publication of the OR, but I am guessing arguments over money and cost were at the root of why some volumes went unpublished. University and state libraries might spring for full copies of the OR (thank you, University of Alberta Libraries), but very few ordinary citizens could afford to buy the entire set. The GPO or whoever printed them certainly didn't turn much of a profit over the project. I assume that would have had some impact in limiting the ultimate scope of the OR.

 

[RyanQ1864]

The book you'll want to read to answer these questions is War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War by Yael Sternhell.

The book's description:


A history of the United States' greatest archival project and how it has shaped what we know about the Civil War

Winner of the 2024 Tom Watson Brown Book Award • Shortlisted for the 2024 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize

The Civil War generated a vast archive of official records—documents that would shape the postwar era and determine what future generations would know about the war. Yael Sternhell traces these records from their creation during wartime through their deployment in a host of postwar battles, including those between the federal government and Southerners seeking reparations and between veterans blaming each other for defeat.

These documents were eventually published in the most important historical collection ever to have been assembled in the United States: The War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and the Confederate Armies. Known as the OR, it is the ultimate source for generations of scholars and writers and ordinary citizens researching the war. By delving into the archive, Sternhell reveals its power to shape myths, hide truths, perpetuate rancor, and foster reconciliation. Far more than a storehouse of papers, the Civil War archive is a major historical actor in its own right.

 

[RedRover]

We all refer to the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion as the Bible of what took place during the Civil War, but how much of the records are we missing?

Apparently a large quantity of Confederate records were lost at the close of the war. But it is evident that late in the war official reports were not so often bothered about.

I've heard many pertinent communications have been left out, never filed, lost, etc. I also know there is a 100 volume Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and that a Secret Service section was planned but never published. Did politics play a role in what records were published?

The Congress ordered the compilation of the records by Resolution in May, 1864... The publication was limited to the archives of the War Department from 1860 to the close of the war. This included the collection of Confederate records collected by the War Department, especially after 1865.

Post-war, the Acts of Congress for the publication, included notice

Congress was lobbied to allow for post-war accounts/reports to be submitted to fill gaps in the official record, but the decision was against it.

Former Confederate General Marcus J. Wright was employed to locate wartime Confederate records. Another Confederate veteran was hired with certain wartime expertise to aid in the compilation of the data, who it was noted was a non-partisan fellow.

General Wright labored to convince Confederate veterans to supply what records they had. From Confederate Veteran magazine...

Relative to the Government barring corrections and post-war statements, John Purifoy of Montgomery, Alabama, a Confederate veteran opined that that was certainly the correct course of action, given his own experiences.

The Supplement volumes published more recently is a compilation of information from Government sources that were not employed in the original publication, like caption and record of events notices from Muster rolls of various units, etc. But there are reports, etc. included which were recorded as "not found" in the Official Records, but subsequently located, etc.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352023798000835

I'm just interested in what we're missing of the 'official accounts'.

The Official Records publication was commenced from compilations of records, per a Congressional Resolution of May, 1864. It really only got serious when Robert N. Scott of the 3rd Regiment of Artillery was charged with advancing the project, and he adopted the final mode of organization of the documents. It was noted that Scott included everything of "any" historical value. As in documents without any historical value in the collection, were not included in the publication.

In sharing Jefferson Davis' wartime papers, his widow marked some documents with notice they were not to be copied. Finding many of these were of historical value, there was some question on the subject but it was decided to abide her decision, since the documents were of her private collection.

The Compilers also solicited General Jubal Early for copies of his wartime records in 1864, and cooperated relative to which might be published...

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Can recall reading that when Richmond was finally evacuated on Apr. 2, '65, recently appointed Secretary of War, Breckinridge, was instrumental (by taking active steps) in saving and preserving many of the Confederacy's official military records. (See https://www.clevelandcivilwarroundt...-john-c-breckinridge-a-great-military-leader/ ).

But believe most of the records of the Confederate Secret Service, a covert operating agency loosely aligned with the Confederacy's Signal Corps, were burned by Secretary of State, Benjamin, in the days immediately before the Federals occupied the city on Apr. 3.

These missing Secret Service records contributed to later speculation that a possible Confederate government conspiracy was involved in the subsequent assassination of Lincoln.

 

[Belfoured]

The book you'll want to read to answer these questions is War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War by Yael Sternhell.

The book's description:


A history of the United States' greatest archival project and how it has shaped what we know about the Civil War

Winner of the 2024 Tom Watson Brown Book Award • Shortlisted for the 2024 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize

The Civil War generated a vast archive of official records—documents that would shape the postwar era and determine what future generations would know about the war. Yael Sternhell traces these records from their creation during wartime through their deployment in a host of postwar battles, including those between the federal government and Southerners seeking reparations and between veterans blaming each other for defeat.

These documents were eventually published in the most important historical collection ever to have been assembled in the United States: The War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and the Confederate Armies. Known as the OR, it is the ultimate source for generations of scholars and writers and ordinary citizens researching the war. By delving into the archive, Sternhell reveals its power to shape myths, hide truths, perpetuate rancor, and foster reconciliation. Far more than a storehouse of papers, the Civil War archive is a major historical actor in its own right.

That book is excellent. We've always known that there are several limitations to the OR but Sternhell's book illuminates the process of compiling and publishing. Let's just say that it was far from an unimpeachable process.

The OR are very much in the "trust but verify" column.

 

[gary]

A lot of Confederate documents aren't included. Probably destroyed near war's end.

Then there's also deliberate omissions. Banks's figures for the XIX Corps for his assaults doesn't include the Corps d' Afrique "engineers" who were killed during the assaults or who worked as litter bearers and shot anyway. Sickness and illness are not clear either and his paroling of Confederates is misleading too. It's one thing to include civilian employees of the Confederate government but quite another to include civilians. The net result is that it made Gardner's forces appear larger than they were.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

That book is excellent. We've always known that there are several limitations to the OR but Sternhell's book illuminates the process of compiling and publishing. Let's just say that it was far from an unimpeachable process.

The OR are very much in the "trust but verify" column.

Looks like this book is not available on Indigo. Or at the local universities. I might have to go back to Amazon for this one.

 

[Belfoured]

Looks like this book is not available on Indigo. Or at the local universities. I might have to go back to Amazon for this one.

I knew generally that a lot of people were involved in the process and that there were "judgments" made but I knew very little about the process itself. The book is recommended for anybody who uses the OR - which is obviously a lot of us on CWT. All of this, of course, doesn't deal with the caveat that even if the material is authenticated as to source, date, and text, the content may be of suspect reliability. AAR are especially in this category because the writer may not have had personal knowledge and/or may have had an incentive to omit/conceal or embellish.