The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-03
I'D BOOKS OF THE WAR.
,hTHFRN POsroFFIC5 RECORDS
+ FOUND AND BOUGaT.

\
Ehen Richmond Was Evacuated.
line They Will Have to the Govern
snt.
From the NeU York Times.
~ limited States government. through
.laostofi,e department az Washington,
trs. maid sl2. OJO for two very dilaDi-
la old books, and the transaction opens
Interesting page ia the history Of the
The books are of pecrniary as we'll as
t.o-ical value. One Of them is the official
- hook Of John H. Reagan, in use dur
:. bis terun OF Office as postmaster general
oeba confederate states OF America. 1t
sr,oins all his official correspondence
-, orders. copied at the time of their exc
.,,soo in the memorable days in Richmond
whn taat city aspired TO be capital
-iv,,in9 Washington. The other. while of
Ios.vslue to historians, is the book that was
doe,,ed of sufficient pecuniary value TO in
drc. congress to appropriate 30 large a sum
to- ,ba purchase of the two. 1t is the regis
,or a, reports OF the confederate pos,offlce
do,srtnent in use during the entire life of
the confederaoy.
.be confederate government have only now,
yearly thirty years after their pages were
closed. come into the hands OF the WASH
ington authorities is a strange circum.
stance. In the postoffloe department are
hundreds Of volumes of account books aud
nsners OF the postoffice department of the
ronfederacy. These came into possession
Of the military authorities soon after
the surrender of Lees and John
1R..lI
vevsd in bulk to Washington. 1t was
believed until very recently that they were
the complete records of this department, the
only department that was supposed TO have
escaped spoliation. There was nothing in
the archives of the postal department at
Richmond that was regarded as compro~
missing in the way that were many of the
pauers and letter books of the war and
state departments which disclosed the de-
tails of the movement to destroy the union,
and while the latter were being burned on
the order to fee from Richmond and at a
later date to save them from falling into
the hands OF the Washington authorities.
the postofiice records were carefully pre-
served with the thought or their future
value, whatever might be the result of the
ruggle at arms then so near it's climax,
In the course of the last session Of con-
gress Postmaster General Wanamaker was
apprised that these two books had been
found and could be purchased by the gov
eminent for a sum sufficiently large to re-
ward the finders. The books had been dis
covered by chance in two negro cabins near
Chester. :. c., where they had evidently
lain ever since the ending of hostlities. The
books wlen founded were in very much
used-up condition. Their heavy covers were
warped aud worn SO as to remind one OF q
weather-beaten army saddle. The pages
not covered with the records of Reagan and
his assistants had been used by the negroes
IN crude attempts at learning to write, aud
the leaves were covered with rude scrawls
and were dog-eared and dirty.
The darkies had never gained an under
standing of the value Of the books, and it is
also curious that no one CHANGED to see
them who appreciated their worth. either
pscuniary or historical, until more than q
quarter of a century had gone by. There
is a mystery connected with the separation
Of these two volumes from the other records
OF the department that has not yet been
cleared up, though several theories to ac-
counttor their removal from the confeder-
ates archives and their falling into the hands
OF the ignorant ex-slaves are advanced.
Though the money for the purchase of the
two books was made available by
congress several months ago. Post.
master General Wanamaker refused to
accept them until they were positively
identified. For this Identification it was
necessary TO call or some person who had
been connected with the postoffice depart
ment of the confederacy. The first assist
ant postmaster general under Jefferson
DAVIS administration was H st,
George Ofut, now a resident of Flushing.
l.. l., and in business in this city as dealer
in railroad supplies at So Trinity place.
For seventeen years previous to the organ
Hatlon OF the provisional government of
the confederate states of America at Mont,
gomery. Ala, Mr. Offutt had been a prom
inent employe in the postoffice depart
ment at Washington. He was chief
clerk in the auditing department and
Tor one week, during the interregnum
between defaulting Postmaster Fowler's
forced retirement and the appointment of
ten. Dix as his successor, Mr.. Offut was in
charge OF the New York post office. He
was Flrginian by birth, and his sympa-
thles were with the south. He was therefore
among those in the national departments
who went out when Lincoln was inaugu-
rated. He went directly to Montgomery,
where Reagan had already been appointed
postmaster general of the provisional gov
eminent, being Immediately assigned the
Place of his assistant.
Col Ofut}s successor in the auditing
department at Washington was j. NJ.
McGraw. Mr.. McGraw is now a LAWYER
In Washington, and it was he who was
iAtrusted by the men VINO secured the
DOCKS from the negroes to carry on the ne
EQUATIONS with the government for their
purchase. When the question of a posi-
1--WE Identification came up, Mr.. McGraw
wrote to Col. Offutt describing the books,
specially the register of records, and
ssKea Nun II he could make affidavit that
suey were the books actually In use
III the department at Richmond. In
tle register of records were the signatures
VI some twenty or thirty clerks in
tle auditing department.. Many of these
names, Col. OHutt remembered, but in reply
W hr' McGraw's request, he could not tell
%uere any of the men were now to be found
nr. Ofute, In answering the attorneys
M.VeI' informed him that the best man to
tNglntormation about the books was John
a. reagan, the postmaster general OF the
.oonlederacy and late United States
,Uuator from Texas. Lawyer McGraw
. Sbto'e back that Mr.. Reagan was not
,oVu IN Warrington and asked to be allowed
NJ tollng the books to New York for Col.
Wnu1ts idect lfication. Later the two vol
O OsioS were placed before Col. Offutt in the
sn 80 Vi tne assistant postmaster in this city
~ .uere ne readily recognized them as the
TS mcGraw had described them to be.
a, "a. qe story of the finding of these fragments
d .le archives OF the confederate postoffice
gsspartment caused no one more surprise
Sa " Ool Ofutt, for no one knew better than
n NO tne history of all the records Of the de-
Titihent up to the very hour when the
tho states military authorities received
M NJ. from his hands at Chester, s. G.. Some
TNSus before the receipt of the letters from