National Republican., 1888-05-30
A MESS OF WAR RECORDS.
THE NEW COMPILER MAKES
SOME MISERABLE WORK.
Biuudcrs of the Twenty-First Volume,
just Issued Sufficient shown to
Justify Congress in Suspending the
Work.
Isrccial In The Commercial liaze,tcI

lSrccial tu the Commercial GaZettcl
Col. Lazelle has placed another volume
Of war records before the public. twenty.
one has just come from the public printer.
IL covers the operations in northeastern
Virginia during the period that Gen. Burn
side commanded the Army Of the Potomac,
Had Col. laZellc been content to leave 1t a.
col, Scott compiled It there would have
h,on no trouble. But like the volume
which preceded It, II has been spoiled by an
appendix. His first venture in this line, rs
has now been fully proven, contained I'M
official and grossly incorrect matter, whch,to
make the matter worse, was falsely declared
to bc official and accurate This second np.
rendiX, in the Objectionable part, Is not
open tu the gross charges which have becu
established against the first, but II is not
what the index describes It to he, anl the
effect of introducing it is simply to confuse.
This last bungling consists in the intro
ductiun Of two maps, which the index de.
sCribcs as showing, respectively, the posi-.
tions Of the Union and confederate forces
at the battle Of Fredericksburg. Such map,
are very important to the understanding OF
this noted battle. They are the more i'm
going on at such snail's pace that the pro-
iectcd atlas Of maps is not likely to appear
within the lifetime Of many Of the veterans
now surviving.
Tuning from the index to what Is there
described as the map of the UnioupOsitiun
at Fredericksburg, and the reader Is aston.
ished to find nothing but sketch of the
ground surrounding that city, with the posi-
tiCns Of the artillery under Gen. Hunt
marked upon it. There ale no designations
Of infantry lines, or, in fact, of any lines
whatever, although the map is very elab
crate for page print. There Is not
mark on 1t TO show that any infantry had
part in the battle. or occupied any position
about the place. Worse still, there Is nothing
to indicate the hours during the prolonged
battle when the batteries were stationed as
shown ON the map. The sketch is an cx-
Cellent one FOR what Gen. Hunt prepared it
for but il was never designed to show the
positions Of the Union army at FrederiCks-
lurg. In fact, 1t was not a map In the
records tits sketch which Gen. Hunt
loaned Col. Scott for the information Of the
latter, and Col. Lazelc having found it, has
certainly made very stupid mess of IT,
The map selected to show the confederate
position, While much better adapted to its
purposes than the one used for the Union
forces, since it really gives the positions of
the lines Of each, is made confusing by the
explanation which the compiler has at
tachCd. AS an example, under only two
reference numbers, each printed but In one
one place ON the map, not less than forty
distinct matters are included, and many of
these included under the same reference
number, vary from one mile 10 -four, i've
and six miles apart.
While this map was Il good thing for the
purpose for which it was preparcd-nNmely,
toplcscnt the results of reconnaissance
made some time subsequent TO the battle
il clearly Is not the one which should have
been selected for the present purpose. 1t
is not part Of any of the various Conicdcr-
ate reports which the volume contains, and
had not been adopted MS the official map by
any Of them. In this important sense 1t Is
not official.
To those accustomed to the painstaking
accuracy Of Col. Scott the work which has
| been in progress since his death is sickening.
| II is most discOuraging as well as eNaspe
rating TO see a great work, such as Con-
| gress has undertaken in the publication of
these records, upon which such liberal sums
have been expended, and in Which the vet
Grams Of both armies and all their friends
| take general and deep interest, marred by
inexperienced and wholly incompetent
| hands.
What has already happened is sufficient
indication of what may he expected in
| rendering the text Of succeeding volumes
| defective, inaccurate, or worthless. Enough
has already been done by Col. Lazelle to de-
stroy the confidence Of the public IN his
work and to Justify Congress in stopping
in fact to make it the plain duty Of Con-
| gress TO stop, further publication until the
War Department sees tit TO put this i'm
| pOrtant work in competent hands.
But the damage inflicted is not to the
| text alone. Col. La2elle has taken the in
| deNing away from the only expert under
MIN in that department of the work, and
has, since this taking IL out of fully COM
petent hands, tried three different persons
on the work. The first and best fitted Of
the three declined to undertake it on the
ground that no one left in the office could
| perform the work properly. The second
| could not even come up to Col Lazelle's
| low standard of what is necessary, and now
he has put It in the hands of proofreader
Thus is the greatest index yet devised fol-
a government publication, and which Col
Scott and Mr.. Moodey perfected after years
of study, being rendered comparatively
worthless for future volumes.
Not only is the present work of the bu-
reau of war records such as to bring infinite
| discrCdit upon the War Department, but it
| is II fact that under the present management
the unpublished records, which every ad-
ministration from Gen. Grants to the
present one has opened TO all who desired
| to examine them, are now absolutely
closed to the public. Indeed, they were
not as closely sealed while the war was in
| progress, as witness the great volumes of
Moorc's rebellion records printed while the
war was going on, IT is now impossible to
| gain access to these records, or even to those
| portions Of them which have been already
| prepared for publication and by Congress
| ordered printed.
This feature of the case is an outrage upon
the whole country, north and south alike.
The fact that an inquiry into the present
management of the war records is pending
| IN Congress makes 1t improper to write with
fun freedom Of the real inside of the pres,
cnt regime. When it does become known
the veterans Of both armies and all their
friends will have something to think about
| and talk about. il. V. i.
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