Papers of the War Department, 1784 to 1800
Contributors: George Mason University. Center for History and New Media
Publisher: Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Fairfax, VA]
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource]
Subjects: Sources; History; Military History; Foreign relations; United States. War Department; United States
Description: On the night of November 8, 1800, fire devastated the War Office, consuming the papers, records, and books stored there. Two weeks later, Secretary of War Samuel Dexter lamented in a letter that "All the papers in my office [have] been destroyed." For the past two centuries, the official records of the War Department effectively began with Dexter's letter. An innovative digital editorial project, Papers of the War Department, 1784-1800, has brought about a major change.  Some 55,000 documents of the early War Department, long thought irretrievable, have now been reconstructed through a painstaking, multi-year research effort and made available to scholars, students, and the general public.
Notes: Title from home page (viewed on Sept. 26, 2007).

Mode of access: World Wide Web.