general public and shall show the names of those who, either as officers or enlisted men, bore arms for the Union or for the Confederacy during the great war. In the opinion that this desire is one that should be gratified, and that can be gratified, in great measure at least, by compiling and publishing, as a continuation of the publication known as the 'Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,' a complete list or roster of the officers and men who served in those armies during the Civil War, this Department recommended at the last session of Congress the enactment of a law authorizing the compilation and preparation of such a roster for publication. That recommendation was followed by the enactment of a provision of law, which was embodied in the executive, legislative and judicial appropriation act approved February 25, 1903, and which is as follows:

"That under the direction of the Secretary of War the chief of the Record and Pension Office shall compile, from such official records as are in the possession of the United States and from such other records as may be obtained by loan from the various States and other official sources, a complete roster of the officers and enlisted men of the Union and Confederate armies.'

"The Department is prepared to enter at once upon the work of making the compilation thus authorized and to push it to completion as rapidly as possible. There will be little or no difficulty in making the Union part of the roster complete, but there will be great difficulty in regard to the records in the possession of this Department of the Confederacy. We wish to obtain a temporary loan of the Confederate rosters and any and all authentic Confederate records that can be found anywhere. Many of these records are in the possession of the various States and it is hoped will be made readily accessible, but there are others that are widely scattered among historical and memorial associations and private citizens. The problem of how to find and to procure the loan of these scattered records is a difficult one, but it is one that must be solved in order that the Confederate soldier shall receive the full credit that is due him in the roster that is to be compiled.

"I earnestly invite your coöperation with the Department in an effort to make this compilation as nearly complete as it is possible to make it, and I shall be glad to have the benefit of any suggestions that you can make as to the manner in which that end can best be attained. The work will be in the immediate charge of Brigadier General F. C. Ainsworth, chief of the Record and Pension Office of this Department, and I beg leave to suggest that if the plan herein outlined meets your approval you designate some official of your State to communicate with him relative to the details of the work and the steps to be taken in furtherance of it."

The plans of Brigadier General Ainsworth are given more in detail in a letter to State Auditor Dixon, to whom the work for North Carolina has been entrusted by Governor Aycock.

"In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 19th inst. [March] I beg to express the gratification of the Department at your cordial assurance of coöperation with it in the effort to make the recently authorized roster of the officers and men of the Union and Confederate armies as nearly complete as it is possible to make it, so far as North Carolina troops are concerned.

"A considerable collection of the rolls of North Carolina Confederate organizations is now in the possession of this Department. While the collection does not by any means show all the names of the officers and men who were in the Confederate service from North Carolina, and while it does not show the complete military histories of those whose names it does show, it is hoped that the list of names and the histories of individual officers and men can be made more nearly complete by record evidence obtainable from other original rolls that may now be in the possession of the State of North Carolina, or of historical societies, memorial associations and individuals of North Carolina and other States.

"The legislation authorizing the compilation of the roster is construed by the Department to restrict it, in making the compilation, to the use of original records made during the war period, and to preclude the use of the printed or manuscript copies or compilations made subsequently. For this reason and in order that there shall be no ground for doubt as to the accuracy of the proposed roster, the Department will be unable to use in the compilation any of the rosters that have heretofore been published, but must in all cases seek the original records upon which those rosters are based.

"You will readily see that, in order that the compilation now in progress shall be as nearly perfect as it is possible to make it, it is essential that the War Department shall obtain the temporary loan for the purpose of copying, of any original official rolls, lists or other documents that show the names of Confederate officers and men and that are now in the custody of State officials, historical or memorial associations, public or private libraries, or that are in the possession of private citizens.

"It is impracticable for the War Department to communicate with the various holders of these scattered records, and consequently the Department must rely upon each State to collect by loan or otherwise, such records of its own or other Confederate organizations as may be obtainable within the State, and to forward the collection when completed to this Department, by which the records will be copied and returned to the State with the least possible delay. Of course the express charges incident to shipping records to and from the State will be defrayed by the Department.

"Permit me to suggest, if the plan herein outlined meets with your approval, that you take such steps, through the public press and otherwise, as you deem to be advisable and proper to give the plan wide publicity, and to enable you to gather together all original Confederate records that can be collected in your State by loan or otherwise.

"If it occurs to you that a different plan from that indicated herein should be adopted, or if during the progress of the work you can make any suggestion tending to facilitate or improve it, you

will confer a favor upon the Department and myself by advising me freely and fully with regard to your views."

The subject has prompted a slight inquiry into what has already been done by the various States of the Confederacy towards preserving the records of their troops.

In March the editor addressed a note to the Secretary of State, to the leading historical authority in the State, and to others asking two questions: 1. What has your State done towards getting her Confederate rosters in shape and ready for publication? 2. What has it published of those rosters up to the present time?

The answers are printed below seriatim:

ALABAMA. Thomas M. Owen, Esq., Director of the Department of Archives and History, writes under date of April 8:

Replying to your postal I beg to say (1) Alabama has in this Department partial rosters of her troops in the Confederate States army, which have been augmented from time to time by the gift of others, both before and since the formation of the Department, and (2) nothing has heretofore been done looking to the publication of our rosters, except the enactment of the provisions on the subject to be found in sub-division 4 of section 3, and in section 6 of the act of establishment.1

You may find in the second volume of the Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society, a full account of W. H. Fowler's efforts

1(4) He shall have the control and direction of the work and operations of the Department, he shall preserve its collections, care for the official archives that may come into its custody, collect as far as possible all materials bearing upon the history of the State, and of the territory included therein, from the earliest times, prepare the biennial register hereinafter provided, diffuse knowledge in reference to the history and resources of the State; and he is charged with the particular duty of gathering data concerning Alabama soldiers in the war between the States.

SECTION 6. Be it further enacted, That the Department is charged with the duty of making special effort to collect data in reference to soldiers from Alabama in the war between the States, both from the War Department at Washington, and also from private individuals, and to cause the same to be prepared for publication as speedily as possible.

toward the collection of the records of our troops during the struggle. Examine the sub-division on page 328 et seq. of the Report of the Alabama Historical Commission for further data on the subject, the extent of our rosters, etc.

Since entering upon my work as the Director of the Department, I have collected a large number of original or contemporary records. What we had on hand, together with the use of what is in the War Department, we expected to publish in the next two or three years.

The recent law of Congress, however, providing for the compilation and publication by the United States Government of all the rosters of both armies, will preclude the necessity of any further action on our part looking to State publication. The Governor of Alabama has directed me as the head of this Department to extend the fullest cooperation to the War Department in its plans. I am preparing to place in the hands of Col. F. C. Ainsworth all of our records, and shall probably visit Washington in the coming May for that purpose. Just one year ago, in April, 1901, I visited the War Department with a view to arranging to secure copies of what records they had in reference to Alabama troops, for publication under our first plan above outlined. I then discovered that the Department was loath to permit us to secure copies, although we had the right to them under the law. Colonel A. told me that it was his desire to round out the work already begun in the "Official Records," by publishing the personnel of both armies. He then intimated that it would be many years before the work was undertaken. I urged immediate action, and to that end talked to Senator Pettus, of the committee on military affairs of the Senate, as well as to other Senators. Later, after a conference with me on the subject, Hon. Dunbar Rowland, Director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, visited Washington on a like mission. He met practically the same reception as I did, but his urgency was productive of the enactment of the provision under which this compilation is to be made, and Senator Jones, of Arkansas, introduced the amendment to the legislative, executive and judicial appropriation bill, which is now the law. While the plan looking to the publication of these records was not a new one, yet I think to Mr. Rowland and the cooperation of Southern Senators must be accredited the honor of initiating the present legislation. More remotely my visits to Washington, antedating Mr. Rowland's by only three or four months, had its influence. * * ** *

FLORIDA. Mr. J. Clifford R. Foster, Adjutant General, writes under date of April 9:

Your letter of March 26th to the Secretary of State has been referred by him to this office for reply. In answer to your inquiries beg to say that this State has, as yet, done nothing toward compiling rosters of those of her soldiers who served in the Confederate army. The Legislature now in session has been petitioned to take the matter up, but it is impossible to say what will be done. The records in this office are very incomplete.

GEORGIA. Question 1, nothing; question 2, nothing.

KENTUCKY. Mr. Ed. Porter Thompson, Jr., writes from the Adjutant General's office, March 31, 1903:

The Legislature of 1902 ordered the Adjutant General to get together all obtainable data in regard to the Kentuckians who did service with the Confederate army during the War of 1861-65. We have been at this work for some months past and have on hand a great deal of material, but, as yet none of it has been put into proper form, and it will be some time before it is ready for the printer.

LOUISIANA. The secretary to the Governor writes, April 7: Replying to your letter of March 26, 1903, which has been referred to me by the Secretary of State, I beg to inform you that thus far the State has gone no farther in the matter of the roster of its Confederate troops than to open correspondence with General F. C. Ainsworth, Chief of Record and Pension Division, War Department, Washington, D. C. Most of the original rosters of these troops are at Washington and General Ainsworth, under recent legislation of Congress, is to conduct the compilation and publication of these rosters. Such original rosters as may be found in the State will be sent to General Ainsworth.

Mr. William Beer, librarian of the Howard Memorial Library, of New Orleans, writes March 27:

The Confederate Memorial Hall contains numerous rosters which were shown to, and listed by, General Marcus Wright, in 1895. Since that date numerous rosters have been received, and are listed in manuscript by Colonel Chalaron, who is in charge of the collection. None of these have ever been printed. The War Office possesses numerous rosters of which at present no list is held in Louisiana, consequently there is no one at present knowing exactly what rosters can be used for the intended publication under governmental editorship.

MISSOURI.-No report.

MARYLAND.—Mr. William L. Ritter, Secretary of the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Maryland, writes, April 17:

Replying to your letter of the 6th inst., will say that the State of Maryland, to the best of my knowledge, has done nothing in the way of gathering, compiling or printing the rosters of her troops in the Confederate armies.