The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-13
RECORD OF SOLDIERS
RESULT OF AN IMPORTANT
 i, CONFERENCE
War Department will Not Agree tt Revision of Rosters of Confed-
 crate Troops in oficiil
 Work

The result of the conference between the Secretary of War and the special committee from the Confederate Roster Commission, has been forwarded to Hon. Thomas M. Owen, by pr. B. F. Dixon, Commissioner from North Carolina and a member of the Committee.
 Mir. Dixon is the Commissioner for Ala bama appointed by Governor Jelks. Com missioners at the request of the Secretary of War. were appointed in the Southern States to collect and send forward the oficial rolls and records of all soldiers enlisted in the Southern States. These ofticial rolls are to be preserved in per- petuity in the archives of the War De- partment, side by side with the ofiicial rolls of the Federal army.
 The Southern Commissioners found, un- der the rigid restrictions placed upon the work by the War Department, diffi- culties in the way of making complete rolls.
 The Southern Commissioners met .n Atlanta to secure by concerted action . modification of the rigid regulations of the War Department. The assembled Commissioners decided to ask the Sec retary of War for several notifications, first. that there should be no undue haste in the publication; second, that the South ern representatives should be allowed to correct the proof sheets; third, that the pension rolls of the Southern States should be accepted as part of the records; fourth the Commissioners should be sup piled with check rolls; fifth, that the rolls should give as far as possible the personal record of each soldier; sixth, that where an official record was lacking a roll certified to by the Governor and carefully complied of all available data in reference to the missing record should be admitted.
 A special committee. consisting of Gov ernor A. J. Montague of Virginia, ex- Governor A. D. Candler of Georgia, and Dr. B. F. Dixon of North Carolina, was appointed to present memorial embody- ing the requests to the Secretary of War. Ex-Governor Candler, because of illness could not go to Washington with the committee. The result of the inter view of Governor Montague and Dr B. F. Dixon with the Secretary of War. Is given in the following letter:
 Raleigh. N. C., Feb. 1, 1904. Hon. "A. D Candler, Atlanta. Ga:
 Dear Governor-Govcrnor Montague and myself visited the War Department at Washington and had an interview with the Secretary of War relative to the me. morial presented by us; but am afraid very little good will result. from the pre- sentation of the memorial, for the reason that the Secretary of War seems to be opposed to the introduction of any mat ter other than original records. His statement was that he much rather have a roster that was perfect, so far as it went, than to have a more complete one with the probability that it might con tain names not entitled to be placed up- H@ he 'GNHSth allnuen to use data furnished since the war, the North could also clamor for the same privilege. He had information that thous- ands were waiting for an opportunity to be placed on the roster in order that they might be in line for pensions. He Is ex- ceedingly anxious. however. and so s General Ainsworth, that all original re- cords should be forwarded to them, nnd General Ainsworth seems to think that he has nearly all the records that are necessary from the various States to make ! war record of the soldiers almost perfect
 "In his statement to me he said he had all the muster rolls of the different South ern States up to February 1885 In addi- ton to that he has all the prison records, together with the records of all paroles. Combining ell these he thinks he will Do able to make an almost perfect roster of the Southern troops. ~
 However this may be. we did not get any assurance from him, or from the Secretary of War, that our memorial would pass. The Secretary of War did make this concession: I asked him if he would agree. after the roster was con, ple,ted as far as possible from original sources, to add the records which the dIf- ferent Southern States might accept as correct, as an addendum to the original roster. He said he would take that mat ter into consideration and advise us.
 "Very respectfully.
 "B. F. Dixon,
 Commissions. from North Carolina.