RECORDS OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
By MARCUS J.
WRIGHT, Brigadier-General, C.S.A. Agent of the United States War
Department for the Collection of Military Records
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Civil War Pictures]
THE war
which was carried on in the United States in 1861 - 1865, called "The
War of the Rebellion," "The Civil War," " The War of Secession," and "
The War Between the States," was one of the greatest conflicts of
ancient or modern times. Official reports show that 2,865,028 men were
mustered into the service of the United States. The report of
Provost-Marshal General Fry shows that of these 61,362 were killed in
battle, 34,773 died of wounds, 183,287 died of disease, 306 were
accidentally killed, and 267 were executed by sentence. The
Adjutant-General made a report February 7, 1869, showing the total
number of deaths to be 303,504.
Confederate
Artillery Defending Charleston
The
Confederate forces are estimated from 600,000 to 1,000,000 men, and ever
since the conclusion of the war there has been no little controversy as
to the total number of troops involved. The losses in the Confederate
army have never been officially reported, but the United States War
Department, which has been assiduously engaged in the collection of all
records of both armies, has many Confederate muster-rolls on which the
casualties are recorded. The tabulation of these rolls shows that 52,954
Confederate soldiers were killed in action, 21,570 died of wounds, and
59,297 died of disease. This does not include the missing muster-rolls,
so that to these figures a substantial percentage must be added.
Differences in methods of reporting the strength of commands, the
absence of adequate field-records and the destruction of those actually
made are responsible for considerable lack of information as to the
strength and losses of the Confederate army. Therefore, the matter is
involved in considerable controversy and never will be settled
satisfactorily; for there is no probability that further data on this
subject will be forthcoming.
The
immensity and extent of our great Civil War are shown by the fact that
there were fought 2,261 battles and engagements, which took place in the
following named States: In New York, 1; Pennsylvania, 9; Maryland, 30;
District of Columbia, 1; West Virginia, 80; Virginia, 519; North
Carolina, 85; South Carolina, 60; Georgia, 108; Florida, 32; Alabama,
78; Mississippi, 186; Louisiana, 118; Texas, 14; Arkansas, 167;
Tennessee, 298; Kentucky, 138; Ohio, 3; Indiana, 4; Illinois, 1;
Missouri, 244; Minnesota, 6; California, 6; Kansas, 7; Oregon, 4;
Nevada, 2; Washington Territory, 1; Utah, 1; New Mexico, 19; Nebraska,
2; Colorado, 4;
Indian Territory, 17; Dakota, 11; Arizona, 4; and Idaho, 1.
It soon
became evident that the official record of the War of 1861 — 1865 must
be compiled for the purposes of Government administration, as well as in
the interest of history, and this work was projected near the close of
the first administration of
President Lincoln. It has continued during the tenure of succeeding
Presidents, under the direction of the Secretaries of War, from Edwin M.
Stanton, under whom it began, to Secretary Elihu Root, under whose
direction it was completed. Colonel Robert N. Scott, U.S.A., who was
placed in charge of the work in 1874, prepared a methodical arrangement
of the matter which was continued throughout. Officers of the United
States army were detailed, and former officers of the Confederate army
were also employed in the work. The chief civilian expert who continued
with the work from its inception was Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley. The total
number of volumes is 70; the total number of books, 128, many of the
volumes containing several separate parts. The total cost of publication
was $82,858,514.67.
In view
of the distrust with which the South for a while naturally regarded the
efforts made by the Government to procure the records of the
Confederacy, the work of the department to obtain this material at first
met with slight success.
In
1878, the writer, a Confederate officer, was appointed as agent of the
War Department for the collection of Confederate archives. Through his
efforts the attitude of the Southern people became more cordial, and
increased records were the result. By provision of Congress, certain
sets of the volumes were distributed, and others held for sale at cost.
The
history of this official record is mentioned in these pages as it
indicates a widespread national desire on the part of the people of the
United States to have a full and impartial record of the great conflict,
which must form, necessarily, the basis of all history concerned with
this era. It is the record of the struggle as distinguished from
personal recollections and reminiscences, and its fullness and impartial
character have never been questioned. The large number of these volumes
makes them unavailable for general reading, but in the preparation of
"The Photographic History of the Civil War" the editors have not only
consulted these official reports, but give the equally permanent
testimony of the photographic negative. Therefore, as a successor to and
complement of this Government publication, nothing could be more useful
or interesting than "The Photographic History of the Civil War." The
text does not aim at a statistical record, but is an impartial narrative
supplementing the pictures. Nothing gives so clear a conception of a
person or an event as a picture. The more intelligent people of the
country, North and South, desire the truth put on record, and all bitter
feeling eliminated. This work, it is believed, will add greatly to that
end.
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