Year: 1866

1t would have been well if our State legislature


at its last session, had established an office fo
gathering, arranging and preserving the mlitar


and historical records of Louisiana Such a


office, with competent keeper, would have bee


attended with but little expenditure, probably no


more than five thousand dollars per annum. in


cluding rent, salary and incidental OUTLAY. Tb


duty OF the keeper of records would have been +,


SECURE oy all available means such facts, stats


ues, repofts letters journals and publications as


might supply the materials for a full and accurat,


history OF the State, with especial reference to thu


war OF the past five years. Such an Office woult


De- from the beginning, desirable resort fol
| compllers OF memoirs and biographies, and a,depo
| 1or the convenient use of the members of the
| General Assembly and other officers of the State


After the lapse of years, when the present gen
| Grafton OF Louisianians shall have given place to
another-when the recriminations of hostility shall


nave ended, and the passion and prejudice of the
present day, shall be succeeded by better feel
lngs-the men and women of another age will


eagerly seek for truthful record of what was
done by their grandfathers in the most notable OF
all wars. They will enquire with ardent curiosity


into the details of military movements, and none OF
the minute records of the various corps will be
without interest They will wish to read full
and truthful history of all that was done by the
sixty thousand men and boys who served in the
various corps organized in Louisiana, whether
they fell in battle, died of disease, or survived the
final surrender. Nor will this desire be limited to
them or to the descendants of the Confederate SOL
children of the officers and soldiers of the federal
arnias WIN will tnl
their fathers met in battle, and all the details of
the stupendous struggle where so many found
bloody graves, and so many won imperishable
fame All the people of this country are inter
ested in knowing the truth and the time will come
when true and faithful history of the war will be
sought after with aVidity whether the truth relates
to southern or to federal armies. Until such his.
tory is written, the great moral lessons of the
war will remain untaught


The materials for history are perishable. The
best Of them are in the memory OF the actors, and
being unwritten lost with their death or remain
in the distorted form of imperfect oral tradition
It would, therefore, be patriotic and highly use.
sui labor for each actor in the war to put OH record
what lie did or saw. The fuller and more circum-
stantia the narraons are, the better will they sub
serve historical purposes; the Lvy or Thucydides
OF another age will know very well what to omit
of the facts placed at his disposal. Next in value
to these unrecorded recollections are written and
printed reports and documents, muster rolls, and
private letters and memoranda. All of these will
be consumed by time unless care be taken to
gather and preserve them.


In the absence of record Office and keeper
established and paid by law, it would be a com
mendable enterprise for few Louisianians to form
an association for the purpose of procuring and
preserving historical records relating to the past
five or six years. The amount of labor required
would be comparatively light when shared by fifty
or more citizens. But moderate outlay for ex-
penses would be requisite for the first few months,
and even that would probably be refunded by the
State when legal keeper of army records shall
be authorized and appointed. Such an associa-
ton might rescue from destruction many valuable
papers, and make them available to the writer's of
history, as well as encourage the writing of many
valuable and interesting sketches and memoirs
which would else remain unwritten.