The Portland daily press., 1863-01-23
Friday Morning, January 25, 1868.
A Complete Record of the War.

A Complete Record of the War.
1t is probable that many persons have ap-
piled themselves, with more or less of serious
endeavor, to the task Of compiling from day to
day some sort Of record of the war. When the
war commenced, such a task might have been
entered upon by any one of moderate industry
without much fear of its becoming too over
whelming for easy completion. Few people
believed the struggle would reach the dimen-
sions 1t has since assumed, or that the preser-
walton OF its history, as that history transpIred,
would be more than the pastime Of their eis-
ure hours. Even the professional literary
man, who with an eye to subsequent book con-
structi0n, went into the matter systematcally
and with more adequate appreciation of the
labor IL might involve, never could have begun
TO realize the colossal extent of the burden
which time would insensibly heap upon his en-
ergies, or he would, unless OF an amazingly
enterprising and persistent turn of mind, have
shrunk from risking the first perils of so pro-
digious an accumulation. Yet record of
the war conscientiOusly compiled from con-
tempOrane0us sources Is work of so much
ccrrent usefulness, and OF such inestima-
Bile future value, that it would scarcely seem
possible that, out Of the whole community,
there should not be some few individuals who
would perseveringly devote themselves to the
undertaking. Sereral of our public societies
ought certainly to have seen to it that so inap-
fest duty to the present generation and pos
terity was not neglected. Those who have
acquired fame as national historians, and those
who look to be the Bancrofts, Motleys, and
Macaulays Of a few years hence, might rea-
sonably have been expected to collect the ma
terials. they viii some day want, and save a
world of needless trouble by arranging il as
they went along. Perhaps some of them have
done so. The only complete record of the
war, however, that we have seen or heard of,
Is the work of Mr.. Thomas s. Townsend, a
private gentleman Of this city. Mr.. Town
send, to occupy his leisure, started chronicle
OF events which ensued upon Mr.. Lincoln's
election, but Soon found the thing grow upon
his hands so rapidly as TO compel him either to
relinquish his design OF give to 1t his whole
time and attention. He chose the latter alter
native, and the result Is an immense and coz
stantly. increasing mass of information, CON-
prising every detail Of the gigantic contest
which unhappily divides the country, with the
various shades ofopinion evoked by each event
as II occurred, and all arranged with such mar
velous care and perspicacity as TO be rs readi-
ly available for reference as the pages of di-
rectory.
MIR. Townsends record, as far as il goes is
contained in twenty-seven volumes, each about
the size of the largest kind of mercantile ledg
ers. These are full of extracted matter from
The World, Times, Tribune, Herald, Express,
Daily News, Ledger, Sunday Mercury, Frank
Leslie's Illustrated Paper, and Harper's Week
~, OF which newspapers over 800 worth have
been used, whilst the pasting in of the slips
has called for the consumption of 125 pounds
Of gum arabic. An encyclopedia summary OF
everything that happened up to the 3Ist of
December, 1861, has been finished and appears
in two other enormous volumes off,000 pages
each, all written by Mr.. Townsend himself
some of it in highly elaborate and ornamen-
tai manner; and to this encyclopedia there is
small condensed index, also IN manuscript.
There has not been a topic discussed, nor
has an occurrence transpired OF the slightest
national moment since the secession of South
Carolina, whereof Mr.. Townsend has not Sc
cured not only what in his judgment he might
consider an impartial account, but almost
every account which'may have been published
at the time IN the city press. He has culled
the news from all available sources, and illus
trates the facts thus preserved with all the
speeches, letters, messages, reports, proclama-
tons, poems, editorials and promiscuous spec
ulations into which public may have been
tempted, either impusively, or on deliberaton.
Some public men will, in time 10 come, con-
suit Mr.. Townsends record with sentiments OF
pleasure; Others will vainly wish that Mr..
Townsend had been remiss in his researches,
or that the record had met with an untimely
fate from fire.
That part oil the record devoted to military
and naval operations is of special interest. In
it a history of every regiment in the Union ar
my, and of many in that of the Confederates,
is fully and impartially given: when and
where they were raised, how ofiicered, in what
battles engaged, what losses they have suffer
ed, and what amount Of glory, or the reverse,
achieved. The navy and every known ship
and mariner belonging to it meets with the
same amount of minute and honorable men
public service who have notably distinguished
themselves have their names and deeds in.
scribed on Mr.. Townsends "Roll Of Fame,
ana those who have been guilty of brutal oI
destructive acts will find themselves handed
down to an equal though less enviable i'm
mortality. Every list Of killed, wounded, ant
prisoners, OF invalids in hospitals aud of those
who have perished from disease. has been col
lated, analysed, and as far as possible beer
systematized, so that the fate OF each indiyid.
ual can be ascertained at glance. Politica
prisoners have not been forgotten. neitbe
have the privateers nor the blockade. nor il
short, anything that can afford one particle O
information to whoever now or hereafter ma,
seek to learn the story of our sad and sanguin
AIRY civil war.
We understand that Mr.. j. r. Bartlett, til,
secretary Of state Of Rhode Island, and one O
two other persons OF Providence, r. l., beside
others, no doubt, all over the country, are Ell
gagged in a task similar to that of Mr.. Towns
end. The future historian will be at no los
for materials to work Within. Y. World.