Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-02-04

Shown by the Commiftss's Report
Rep1rt Of the Committee ON the Presef-
yatioa of the Military Records Of Maine.
To tae 2,3d 4sasai Eneanpaenf:
The committee appointed by the author.
ity of the 2ad Annual Eacampment 10 pre-
sc 1t To the legislature the subject Of the
prape. collection and preservation of the
military records Of the soldiers and sailors
of Maine, have the horof 10 submit = re-
port As there has been no new meeting
Of the Legislature since the appointment
of the committee, there has been no oppor
tuaity fol The committee TO perform the
duty with which they were charged, hYt
they have carefully considered the subject
and haresith present their views 10 the
Eacampment.
Wniie our State has always shown liber-
aiity toward those of lie citizens Who fought
fo- he Preservation of the Union, and has
mary rimes ard in many ways manifested
il. gratitude and affection for them, still
there IS Que service that remains upper
formed which is due As well to The honor
and dignity of the State as TO those of its
sons who merit it, This is the arrangement
in ample and appropriate form of the names
and services of the men of Maine who
bore an honorable part in the war for
the suppression of the Rebellion. The
name, of those who endured 90 many hard.
ships and gave their lives by thousands in
patriotic exertions for their country, de-
serve TO be kept in lasting remembrance,
and inscribed where future generations may
read them. OF the many who bravely
fought and keenly suffered. only fe~ can
be prominent in history, those whose high
rank or notable doing placed them in
sight where they could be distinguished
from the mass of heroes who composed the
ranks, and who As individuals disappear
unnoticed and forgotten; but it is practical
BILE and easy for the State TO save from
oblivion the names aud records of even the
hunblest of its sons and place to be
enduring which as a recognition of their
services and the need of praise which is
their due.
Several of the states have generously rem
dered this service to the memory of their
soldiers, but while no man performed their
duties better or won greater distinction On
fields OF battle than those from Maine, there
is today no adequate history of them except
IN the form of manuscript data that lie in q
condition largely chaotic in the military
archive, at Augusta and Washington.
The only effort in this direction that has
ever been made was in the hastily prepared
annual reports of the Adjutant General
during and Immediately after the war.
Though much painstaking and faithful labor
haat hna hair in
completeness and many inaccuracies render
them wholly insufficient as the full record
for all time of the part performed by the
State of Maine in the life struggle of
the Nation. The material of which
they are composed of necessity CLEANED
hurridly from information that was often
fragmentary and sometimes erroneous
often from muster rolls and reports that
we're prepared by officers amid the turmols
and distractions of active campaigns in the
intervals between battles and under cir
cumstances that rendered perfect accuracy
impossible.
These reports give the names of many
soldiers several times, thus multiplying in
to seven volumes the records that could
easily be comprised in two, or even one of
quarto size. A person must be very ex-
pert to be able to trace readily through the
series any one of the 73,343 enlistments
that are given Probably Most if not all of
the comrades of the encampment have
peraonal knowledge of this difficulty.
But nevertheless these reports are of
great value as partial record
OF Maine soldiers and would be t. e basis
Of any new work on the subject. At the
time when the last of this series of reports
.as prepared it was impossible to obtain
the final muster out rolls Of hundreds of
good soldiers. The 7th Reg has no
published final record. Many men OF the
9Th Regiment stand on the printed record
in the painfully equivocal position of not
being accounted for; also large number
of the 4th Regiment. Some of these
records have been completed in manuscript
since. Co. ID SharpshooteIs are not to be
found in the index To the report for 1864
There are several cases of companies
beng mixed by having been given the
wrong letters. Some of the regiments arc
| not gwen in their regular order, as the 18Th
and 10Th Infantry and the "a Cavalry, in
the report for 1868. But one of the most
serious of the irregularitieSis the absence
of a soldiers name from the Alphabetical
Index, of which there are many instances
One of the L. s. Pension Examiners while
recently searching for particular record
of service found the soldiers name with a
d fferent middle initial in each of the five
different places where parts or the record
are given. There are some cases where
men who are still living are reported de
ceased" but such an error is slight in com
parison with that which brands the brave
O nd 1paarvinu anldinp with tho 90 Of
"deserton." 1t is believed that at least
one half of the recorded desertions were in
| advertantly and unjustly reported. The
charge in at least 1000 cases has already
bsen removed on the manuscript record in
the Office of the Adjutant General. Unfor-
tunately there were officers who sometimes
through carelessness or spite accounted for
their absences in this summary way. There
are many men of the year 1862 who we're
reported worthless" but who were really
good soldiers and who afterwards reenlisted
under good officers and proved themselves
such.
But the printed reports perpetuate these
basest Of charges against multitude of
worthy soldiers and will continue to do for
all time unless as publicly corrected
There are acts of Congress under which
many officers have been re-mustered with
higher ranks at earlier dates than they are
credited with in the annual reports. There
are also many cases of non commissioned
officers who received deserved promotion
AID commissions, but who we're never mus
tered vi bile in the service, and who by the
liberslity Of later legislation have been
mustered and taken rank in accordance
with right and justice new and com.
plete report would shos these facts to the
public.
But the original series of reports--the
only record of the soldiers and sailors of
Maine ever published-has for long time
been out of print and cannot now be OBJ
tanned by the public at all. A complete
set is rare and only few are in existence.
Posts in this DEPARTING mt have reported
towns in which there is no copy to be found
for Grand Army uses. Outside of the
State Capitol and 4 few private librarie.
there is today no record whatever that i.
accessible of the honorable services of the
men who bore the banner of Maine in the
var of the Rebellion.
new compilation is absolutely necessary
If the services of the soldiers and sailors of
Maine are to have the proud place to which
they are entitled in the annals of the Renuh