The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-09-27
Tiss ConfeGsraass Archives and the
4 Southera1 historical !B9eiefy Oh
AS,srArEaESr BIZ REV. JgEfHILLIaK jones',
u SECRETARY OF THE soUrHERE HISTORICAL

sss,southeraa Mist0r1esi gseiefy.,
4 STATEMENT By REV. JFHIELIAK JONES,
i. SECRETARY or THE soUrHERE HISTORICAL
lssSOCHETY. ia. i5sls tlss
tsf RrcHsoSD,; September 28, 1873. 2
There has been so many inaccurate state
ments made III reference to the Archive
Office at Washingto on, and its relations to
the Southern Historical Society, that I deem
II proper to make o brief statement OF tue
facts. p ',i}ss -.
AZ the convention to re6rganfze our 30
eiety, held at the Montgomery White Sui
phur Springs:in August, 1873, g resolHtton
was adopted instrueting the secretary to
make application to the authorities at Wash
ihgton for access to the Confederate ar
chives collected there. As, however 1t was
known that all suchapplfcati0ns onthe part
OF our Confederate officers had been re,
fused, we besitated to make the appii-
cation until in November, 1876. The then
Secretary OF War, General Beiknap,
opened a correspondence with our So
ciety, as the result OF an interview winch
the secretary OF the Society had with ms
private secretary CDR. Barnard) This
correspondence resulted in nothing, as the
Secretary OF War insisted upon our simply
giving him copies OF such parts OF our
equivalent, and our committee, on the other
hand, were unwilling that the reciprocity
should all be on. one side,". and insisted
upon an exchange of documents. In Janu-
ary, 1877, DIR. Barnard, by the direction OF
the Secretary OF War, Hon. Don Cameron,
lre6pened the correspondence; but as no
better terms were offered uslwc again de-
cfined to turn over our archives to the in
spection and use Of the War Department
unless there should be full reciprocation:
The course OF the War Department very
naturally excited the fear chat there was no
purpose to deal fairly with Confederate
documents in the proposed publication OF
the "Oficial History Of the Rebellion"
We were 10th to make any further move
IN the matter, and had not done SO. although
we had been gratitied to learn that Secre-
tary McCrary had been pursuing more
liberal policy towards some OF our friends.
Under date Of August, 1878, however,
we received letter from General Marcus
J.. Wright, late of the Confederate Army OF
Tennessee, in which he announced his ap-
pointment as ssan agent OF the War De
partment for the collection, &C., OF the Con-
federate records OF the war" and stated that
he was authorized by the Secretary Of War
TO say that any duly-accredited agents OF the
Southern Historical Society will be allowed
access to the Confederate archives; to con-
suit them, and to take copies for historical
purposes. This offer, made voluntarily and
without condition, was all that we had ever
asked, and was in the highest degree graft
flying to our committee.
We, Of course, responded in the same
spirit, and cordially reciprocated by tender
ing the War Department free access to our
archives, and the privilege OF copying any
thing they might wish. General Wright at
once came to Richmond, and had very
satisfactory interview with the secretary
and other members Of our Executive Com
1nittee. We went to work to prepare an
accurate catalogue Of our official documents,
carefully arranged in chronological order,
so that, by comparison with the catalogue
of the War Department, it might be seen
what was wanted to complete the files OF
each collection.
This catalogue was completed on Monday
last, and took it on TO Washington, where
| I had q most satisfactory interview with
General Townsend, who now has
charge OF the whole matter of the archives
and their publication Colonel r. n. Scott,
| who is in charge of the compilation OF the re-
cords: Mr.. A. p. Tasker, who is keeper OF
the archives; General. Wright, and other
gentlemen connected with the " War-Re-
| cord Office" n-a .: '.t
General Townsend received me with
every courtesy and kindness, and we had a
long talk on the whole question. He as
sured me that SO far from desiring to sup
press, he is exceedingly anxious to obtain,
in order to publish, full files OF all OF our
Confederate reports and other official docu-
ments; that be is pushing the work OF COM
pilation as rapidly as possible, aad that he
is ready to give our Society every facility in
bis power to secure copies Of whatever we
may wish for historical purposes. In u
word, the whole matter has ut last been ar
ranged to the satisfaction Of both parties,
and the work of exchange will be begun
Just so soon as our lists can be made out
A visit to the Archive Office impressed
me very favorably with the system, order,
and care with which everything is man.
aged. q
| General Wright, of course, showed me
every courtesy, and was more than ever
impressed with his high qualifications for
his position. And surely, if the ''oficial
history" OF the great struggle is to be pub
lished by the Government, 1t is to our in
terest to make the Confederate part OF 1t US
full as possible.
r WurIlN JoNEs Secretary of -