The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-12
Extract from Annual Report of the Secre.
tary Of War.
THE MEXICAN OUTRAGES.

the Department of Texas con aims detailed it,
formation concerning the difficulties which
have created such excitement on the lower
Rio Grande, where some of the most promi-
nent officers and wealthy merchants Of that
part of Mexico appear to be regularly engaged
in fitting out parties to plumber the stock
ranches on this side of the river. Reports OF
the murder in open daylight of several intiu-
entail citizens, including United States Off
Gals and soldiers, and other dastardly out
RACES by these vagrant Mexicans, were made
to the division commander, who invites atten-
ton to the grave character of the invasions
and the importance of prompt and decisive
measures on the part of the government for
their suppression. Many of the reports from
that locality are probably sensational in char
acter, and are believed to have been instigated
by parties whose personal interests would be
su bserved by the presence of more troops on
the borders of Texas but many others are of
undoubted reliability, and measures have
been instituted by the department COM
mander, under orders from superior authority,
to preserve the integrity of, and enforce a
proper regard for, the territory of the United
States.
OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE LATE WAR.
Good progress has been made during the
year in the preparation of the official records
of the war of the rebellion, both in the Federal
and Confederate branches | have placed the
general supervision of the compilation of
these records in the charge of the chief clerk
of the department, who, under my direction,
has organized an efficient force OF assistants,
selected from those clerks who are best &C
quainted with the arrangement of the official
papers on hand and who are we'll adapted to
the work by experience with department and
army records.
In order to facilitate the compilation and
historical arrangement of the reports and cor
respondence it was found necessary to copy
and print few proof of each docu-
ment, So that the services of mora than one
person could be made available upon this
part of the work, and also in order that when
authentic copies had been printed, the danger
of loss by accident or fire, ETC., might be
avoided.
From the immense mass of papers on hand
the required documents are being selected
copied compared and put to press at the de-
partment, the proof being carefully read and
compared with the original papers, and each
document, letter, report, telegram and paper
is being printed separately. Accuracy is alb
solutely required before these printed copies
are placed in the hands of the compiler,
whose duty it then is to collate and group the
various subjects in order of date and in
accordance with their relation to each other.
A large m IS of material has been collected,
copied, and great portion of it printed and,
far as practicable, the printing has been
done from original documents, when the
nature of the records admitted, without re-
course to copying by hand. This matter has
not received its final arrangement and CLASH
fcation, owing to the difficulty of selecting at
the same time papers relating to contempt
rary subjects The estimate for the continu-
ance of the work for the next fiscal year is
$50 600.
CONFEDERATE RECORDS.
Information has been received from differ
ent sources that many private individuals
have in their possession important official
records, principally of the late Confederate
Government, which they are willing to dis
pose of for consideration, but for the pur-
chase of which there are no funds available at
the disposal OF this department. Of course
these records are properly the property of the
government, but it seems impossible to obtain
the information necessary to their recovery
through the courts, or otherwise than by pur-
chese No doubt is entertained but many of
these papers contain data that would enable
the government to detect many fraudulent
claims, which only could be proven to be such
by the agency of these papers, and it is re-
commended that Congress, by appropriate
legislation, place this department in posi-
ton to recover such as properly belong to its
files. As it now is, these Confederate rec
ords are so incomp lete that the result of their
compilation will necessarily be unsatisfactory
to all concerned.
Ex-senator Henderson's speech last Fri
day, for the government, in the Avery trial,
has aroused the wrath of President Grants
friends because of the scathing rebuke to the
corruption of the party in power. The fol-