Year: 1875

| From the Washington Chronicle


! One of the most important works author
! lied by the last Congress, was the compl!a-
p! tien of an official record OF the war OF the
rebellion. Fifty thousand dollars was appro-
priated for this purpose, and the duty or pre-
pairing the records for the Congressional
Printer was made to ueyolye upon the War
Department. Very few people realized at
the time the appropriation was made the


magnitude Of the undertaking, and even now,


although the work has made considerable
progress, it would still be difficult to impress
upon most people the vast amount OF labor
involved in the getting up Of this official
record Of the great civil war,


Believing that an account Oi TIE present
status of the work would prove interesting,
we have taken pains 10 ascertain how far 1t
has advanced TO make the reader compre
hend, it is necessary 10 state that by direction
of the Secretary Of Wer, Mr.. Fl. 1. Crosby,
Chief Clerk of the War Department., assumed
charge Of the compilation of the records. In
order that Mr.. Crosbys labors might be


facilitated to the utmost, directions were given
TO the heads Of bureaus and divisions to sup
ply him with copies Of every important paper
bearing upon the rebellion, which they held


in charge From this immense mass of
papers so supplied, those documents of the
greatest importance are collated by MIR.
Crosby assistants, under his personal super
vision. These after being carefully arranged
in order Of date, and grouped according to
their respective bearing upon each other, are
placed in the hands of the printer of the War
Department, who prepares printed copies
with the letter press on one side Of the sheet
only, the blank being left for the insertion of
such additional matter as it may be necessary
to add when this prepared copy is finally
placed in the hands OF the Government
Printer.


Five octave volumes, Of between seven and
eight hundred pages each, have already been
prepared in the manner stated above, and the
work upon the. remainder goes on unremit-
tingly. The immensely Of the Job can be
thoroughly appreciated from the fact that
these five volumes represent but one twentieth
of the labor that must be performed before
the copy is ready to place in the hands of
Mr.. Clapp, and when this gentleman takes
hold there Will be left TO perform the extra
ordinary feat of turning out over one hundred
octave volumes, or q total of over 100, 600
pages of composition, say nearly two hun
drei million ems.


In addition to the above there will be pre-
pared a large number Of maps, illustrating
the battle fields, marches, etc, of the war.
JaHy FLAPS NaVc alEcdQy bccn unlSucO unucr
the immediate direction of the Engineer De-
partment, which will, in all probability, bc
incorporated into the records, but they form
Sc very small proportion Of the number ne
ccssary to properly illustrate - work Of the
scope of the contemplated Rebellion Recnrd
as to scarcely deserve mention.


at present there exists some doubt as TO
the full scope Of the Rebellion Record. 1t is
supposed that Congress designed that every
thing bearing upon the civil conflict should
have place in it; but the act authorizing its
publication is not at all explicit upon the
point, and leaves room for doubt as to
whether any other archives than those of the
War Department were to be drawn upon in
compiling them for the printer. This point,
and some others, will have to be finally set
tied at an early day, as there are documents
in several other departments of the govern
ment, fully as important as those in posses
sion of the Secretary of War, and which
should have q place in the records Of the |
great rebellion. There is also question |
about the sum of $50, 900 being sufficient to |
meet the expenses of this immense publica- |
ton, larger by far than any ever turned ont |
OF my printing Office in the world. !;