The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-17
OF BLUE AND GRAY
ROSTERS WILL BE MADE BY THE
GOVERNMENT.
GOVERNORS IN THE SOUTH
ARE ASKED BY SECRETARY OF
WAR ROOT TO AID.

Upon the Comprehensive Work
Authorized by COngress-It Is the
Purpose to Secure and PuhItah
Complete Rosters of All Omcers
and Men Who Served in the Union
and Confederate Armies-Readv
to Start Work at Once.
Washington, March 16.-By direction
of Secretary Root the War Depart-
ment to-day embarked on the extern
slVe work of compiling and publishing
a complete roster of the officers ard
enlisted men of the Union and Con-
federate armies. This is the Secre.
tary's own project, and he succeeded
in impressing Congress with the idea
that it would only be just and fair
to the South to place on the official
lists the names of the Confederate
soldiers. in order that their descend
ants may trace their family histories
with accuracy. The North, through
separate state publications, has COW
cred pretty we'll this ground for its
own soldiers. but the Southern rec,
ords and archives, never very COM
plete, were scattered and destroyed,
owing to the outcome of the war. and
1t is known that many frauds are
| practiced on the benevolent and many
| families lack important links in their
! histories because of the loss of these
| records
VIII he Many Volumes.
| Secretary Root in calling this mat
! ter to the attention of Congress, said
| that the department was constantly in
/ receipt of appeals from state officials
| historical afrin
| memorial associations for transcripts
| of the military records of state troops,
! TO answer which would cost more than
million dollars. so that the most
| economical way would be to publish a
| complete roster.
The publication will be enormous In
size, including no less than thirty
| volumes as large as the Civil War re-
cords. The Northern names will be
| published with the Southern because ii
is desired to have all of these data in
| one compilation, instead of being scat
| tered through various state books
| Moreover, it is felt to be a graces
full thing to bracket the names of the
| men who wore the blue and the gray.
| In order to carry out this purpose,
| Secretary Root to-day sent the fol-
lowing letter to the Governors of all
the states which furnished troops for
| the Confederate armies:
| hetaer Oh the Eecretnpy.
War Department, Washington, d. c.,
| March 16.
THE Governor of the State Of:
| Sir: There is a very general de-
sire on the part of the surviving par
| ties of the great struggle in which our
! country was engaged from 1861 TO
1865, and on the part of the descendants
/ of those who have passed away, for
| publication that shall be accessible
n fhn IL
| names of either officers or enlisted men
| who bore arms for the Confederacy in
! the great war. In my opinion this de-
| sire is one that should be gratified,
and one that can be gratified in great
measure, at least, by compiling and
publishing, as a continuation of the
| publication known as the 'OficiaI Re-
| cords of the Union and Confederate
Armies, a complete list or roster of the
| officers and men who served in those
armies during the Civil War.
| This department recommended at
| the last session of Congress the enact
ment OF a law authorizing the COM
pilation and preparation of such
! roster for publication. That recon-
mendation was followed by the enact
ment of provision of law, which is
embodied in the legislative, executive
and judicial appropriation act, APP
proved Feb. %, 1903, and which is as
follows:
That under the direction OF the
Secretary Of War, the chief of the rec
ord and pension office, shall compile
from such official records as are in
the POSSESSION of the United States
and from such other records as may
be obtained by loan from the states
and other official records, complete
roster of the officers and enlisted men
or the Union and Confederate armies
Will Push the Work.
THE department is prepared to en-
| ter at once upon the work of making
the compilation thus authorized and
to push 1t to completion as rapidly as
possible. There will be little or no
difficulty in making the Union rart
of the roster complete, but there will
be great difficulty with regard to the
Confederate records in the possession
of this department. 1t is of the first
importance, therefore, that no effort
shall be spared to effect the temporary
loan to the War Department, for the
purpose of copying, of any and all .
| authentic Confederate records that can
be found anywhere. Many of the
records are in the possession of the
various states, and it is hoped will be
made readily accessible, but there are
Others that are widely scattered
among historical and memorial as
sociations and private citizens The
problem of how to find and procure the
loan of these scattered records is a
difficult one, but it is one that must
be solved in order that the Confed-
crate soldier shall receive the full cred
1t that is due him in the roster that
is to be compiled.
II earnestly invite your co-opera-
ton with the department in an effort
to make this compilation as nearly
complete as it is possible to make it,
and shall be glad to have the benefit
of any suggestions that you can make
as to the manner in which that end
can be best attained.
THE work will be in the immediate
charge of Brig. Gen. r. c. Ainsworth,
chief of the record and pension Office
of this department. and 1 beg leave to
suggest that If the plan herein out
lined meets your approval, you desig-
nate some official of your state TO COM
municate with him relative to the de-
tails of the work and the steps TO be
taken in furtherance of it. Very re-
spectfully, Elihu Root,
Secretary OF War"