The Red Cloud chief., 1879-11-20

W. Confederate s-~nsrats TarniuE ot-F
Their orsstai fspsrs to Gee uFfshf-

d - -.- -
engaged In collecting ihc u~Coris 4 b.
Confederate .ids, wa. found in hIs Office
lie said VERY many # the ms; sd
usbic official psl.r- If III" Cuuf-l~raf.
army were lps; or DESTROYED In The xcn-
eral breakup and surrender. eur par
pos. /, - 81 copic, of al! ssich p4I-r>.
aud thus make cnmPl-ic ibe ofhslA'
record of that .ide. Such -; the papers
A. were preserved ~-re obtained by ghv
Government. and / Was appointed q"
procure duplicates 81 iho-~ iha; Wrrv
lost"
But how Do You e.; these durH-
ca;e-?'
From the officer If the Confederate
Army. They preserved cnPies 81 escr,
report. every Official paper they ~.ut .,
Richmond, and many If them KEEP,
copie, Of every official letter thcy
wrote"
"Do the eS-Confcdcra;e officer, give
their files upto ynu?"
"Oh. YES. A. a general rule they
give them la ", but whcrr ans Il them
have paper, they wish - keep thew n.
low u Ia make copies Of them. aud ",
return the originals. Gen. Joseph T..
Johnston turned over Ia u HI entire
records. containing all hi reports. Of
dcial letters, and reports If his ,uhorii-
nate officers. | have also all If Gen
Prmbcrton's papers, aud that giyv> "a, a
complete uiiicia. record IF the Nirk-hurg
campaign a. conducted ON the Cpnfrl-
crate side"
Did they turn over their papers en-
tlrely Ia the Government
"les. We preserve the papers. and
they are accessible AZ al times L. those
gentlemen, il they should wish - $50
them or make copies. They give them
Ia us very willingly, a. it relieves them
of the trouble and care ni Keeping them,
and does not deprive them of any u>r
they would want Ia make Of the papers.
We take every %precaution against los
by fire or otherwise of the papers We get.
We have printed copies Of each one
made, and Is r2pcopie~ are distributed
around among a. many Of the depart
mentS and other Government buildings,
80 that in east Of fire We are certain not
Ia have them all destroyed"
General, these records are 10 be- pub
lished by the Government, are they
nUt?'
"Ies, sir; that il what W. are col
Letting them for. The purpose Of the
Government i Ia make up 4 complete
official history Of both armies of the Civil
War. The record for the year 1861. IF
both sides. will De ready for publication
about the time Congress meets. The
volume will be printed by the Govern
mcnt a. any other public documents, and
the usual number distributed among the
departments and members Of Congress.
Then the law provides that the work
shall be- %-tercutyped and sold t"thc pub .
lie at the COS, price IF printing, 50 that
any any one can obtain the work az com
paratiycly little COST
"Will the records Of the two armic,
be printed separately? ?"
"ies; separately, an" in consecutive
Volumes
"Will the records be- c,litcd2''
"No, not at all: simply compiled -
a. To present. in the order i'm which they
were issued, the official reports, letters.
orders, etc, If the War. The compila-
ton i in charge of Col. X. y. Scott IF
the Third Artillery, L. \. a, and a man
better qualified for the work could not
have been selected"
How long will it take Ia finish up
the entire work."
ut will require several YEAR more
To complete the work for all the year,
of the war"
Haven't you recently rcturnd from
Il collecting tour in the South?''
LIES, sir; | got back Il few DAYS AGO.
and obtained 4 number of very valua-
papers. | first went 10 see Gen.
Wheeler, in Alabama, who com
manded the cavalry of Bragg's army.
He gave me his entire file of papers aud
reports, covering the time from his en-
try INTO the Confederate service until
close of the war. | next visited the
Indian Territory. and got II set Of papers
covering the military operations of the
in what was called the
If the Indian Territory. The
district was commanded by Gen. Albert
Pike, Maxcy (now United State, Sena-
tor from TexaS), and ID. III. Cooper.
These records are quite important.
also got all the official papers Of Lieut.
X. :. Ewell (>ince dead), who held !
important command in the Confed- I
crate Army. l neXt visited Gen. f.. 1
NH'N s'iittH "Up tbIilllslitlttl Inc I ]
rans-Mis>issippi Department, and got I
his records. During the war his de q
Iartment was, for a long time. pretty (
Effectively cut off from Richmond. /
md the records there Were
Incomplete rs To his military operations. I
found his files very complete, though. :
'ol. Richmond Of McMIinnville, Tenn. .
To send me the official files of d
zen. Leonidas Polk Bishop Blk, who 1.
vas killed during the War. These pa i
'cfs will cover some very interesting d
movements. | have many of
he papers of Gen. Beauregard, and he Ii
las promised me the remainder a. wi p
: his book, nov in press in New York, "a
hall have been printed. He held, A. =
on know, very high commands. and his a
les will cover some of the most i'm -
operations of the War. Thi, Il
Iinter | shall make a trip t0 Ne Or f.
cans, Memphis, and Mobile, where II
ill get papers of interest from eX-Con- f.
officers residing at those points. r;
he printing of these is equivalent Ia II
he publication of an official history If u
he War. The reports Of battles from III
on both sides, and other official r,
will thus be preserved, and ju
ley will speak truthfully and imparti- b:
ly of the great events of the War. / th
al undertaken, on my own account. III
collection Of Confederate records. "a
it'll the view of publishing them, when
passed the act authorizing A
lem to be compiled. had procured
,ry many valuable papers. and imme-
turned them over TO the Ad-
Of the Army. Subse- ga
lently it was decided to appoint an ex- at
Dnfederate officer to collect the papers ~
that side, and the position was ten "
red To me-" -
Curi0SitieS of Invention. vi