THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF The Hon. DANIEL S. LAMONT, Secretary of War, BY MAJ. GEORGE B. DAVIS, U. S. A., MR. LESLIE J. PERRY, MR. JOSEPH W. KIRKLEY, Board of Publication. SERIES I- VOLUME XLI-IN FOUR PARTS. PART I-REPORTS. CONSTANTINE CHASE, WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1893. 61729 い 1 PREFACE. The work of preparing the records of the war for public use was begun under the resolution of Congress of May 19, 1864, by Adjt. Gen. E. D. Townsend, U. S. Army, who caused copies to be made of reports of battles on file in his office and steps to be taken to collect missing records. Under the provisions of joint resolution No. 91, of 1866, Hon.' Peter H. Watson was appointed to supervise the preparation and formulate a plan for the publication of the records, but he did no work and drew no pay under this appointment, which expired July 27, 1868, by limitation of the resolution. This resolution also repealed the former one and work ceased. The first decisive step taken in this work was the act of June 23, 1874, providing the necessary means "to enable the Secretary of War to begin the publication of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, both of the Union and Confederate Armies," and directing him "to have copied for the Public Printer all reports, letters, telegrams, and general orders, not heretofore copied or printed, and properly arranged in chronological order." Appropriations have been made from time to time for continuing such preparation. Under this act the preliminary work was resumed by Genfral Townsend, who first outlined the plan on which the records are printed, though it appears that originally he contemplated publishing to the world only the more important military reports. Subsequently, under meager appropriations, it was prosecuted in a mewhat desultory manner by various subordinates of the War Department until December 14, 1877, when the Secretary of War, perceiving that the undertaking needed the undivided attention of a single head, detailed Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, U. S. Army, to ake charge of the bureau and devote himself exclusively to the work. The act of June 23, 1874, greatly enlarged upon the first crude wheme of publication. On this more comprehensive basis it was termined that the volumes should include not only the battle ports, but also "all official documents that can be obtained by the mpiler, at alt allir to be of any historical value the Colones Sattsystematized the work and the plan and presented the records III |