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Secretary of War, to whose charge the distribution was transferred by the act of August 7, 1882 (22 Stat. L., 320), which directed that— The volumes of the official records of the war of the rebellion shall be distributed as follows: One thousand copies to the executive departments, as now provided by One thousand copies for distribution by the Secretary of War among officers of the Army and contributors to the work. Eight thousand three hundred copies shall be sent by the Secretary of War to such libraries, organizations, and individuals as may be designated by the Senators, Representatives, and Delegates of the Fortyventh Congress. Each Senator shall designate not exceeding twenty-six, and each Representative and Delegate not exceeding twenty-one, of such addresses, and the volumes shall be sent thereto from time to time as they are published, until the publication is completed. Senators, Representatives, and Delegates shall inform the Secretary of War in each case how many volumes of those heretofore published they have forwarded to such addresses. The remaining copies of the eleven thousand to be published, and all sets that may not be ordered to be distributed as provided herein, shall be sold by the Secretary of War for cost of publication with ten per cent. added thereto, and the proceeds of such sale shall be covered into the Treasury. If two or more sets of said volumes are ordered to the same address the Secretary of War shall inform the Senators, Representatives, or Delegates who have designated the same, who thereupon may designate other libraries, organizations or individuals. The Secretary of War shall report to the first session of the Forty-eighth Congress what volumes of the series heretofore published have not been furnished to such libraries, organizations and individuals. He shall also inform distributees at whose instance the volumes are sent.

Subsequent legislation relating to the printing and distribution of the work was as follows:

Joint Resolution No. 6, approved March 10, 1888 (25 Stat. L., 618):

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* That all copies of the Records of the War of the Rebellion, remaining undistributed, of the quota of ex-members of Congress, shall be put to the credit and distributed upon the orders of their successors, respectively, in the Fiftieth Congress, in accordance with existing provisions of law: Provided, That copies of the above-named documents standing to the credit of ex-members who, in consequence of changes in the boundaries of Congressional districts, have no direct successors in the present Congress, shall be put to the credit pro-rata of the several Representatives of the State in which such districts are located, who were not Representatives in the Forty-seventh Congress: And provided further, That this resolution shall not be construed as withholding, from parties already named to receive complete sets of said documents, the volumes yet to be issued.

Act approved August 5, 1892 (27 Stat. L., 378):

For continuing the publication of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, * the printing and binding of five hundred copies thereof for the use of Senators, Members, and Delegates of the Fifty-second Congress, to be printed and bound under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.

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(The 500 copies authorized by the act of August 5, 1892, were distributed by the superintendents of the folding rooms of the Senate and House of Representatives at the Capitol.)

Act approved January 12, 1895 (28 Stat. L., 618):

The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to furnish a complete set of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies to each Senator and

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Member of the present Congress not already entitled by law to receive the same; and he is further authorized to use for this purpose such incomplete sets, not including any to the credit of Senators, as remain on hand uncalled for by beneficiaries designated to receive them under the authority contained in the Acts approved August seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and March tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight; and the Secretary of War will call upon the Public Printer to print and bind such volumes or parts of volumes as will enable him to fill out the incomplete sets hereinbefore referred to.

Act approved June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. L., 50):

Provided, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to furnish a complete set of Official Records of the war of the rebellion to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in the Fifty-fourth Congress who is not already entitled by law to receive the same; and he is further authorized to use for this purpose such incomplete sets as remain on hand uncalled for by the beneficiaries designated to receive them under the authority contained in the Acts approved August seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and March tenth, eighteen hundred and eightyeight.

Concurrent resolution of January 26, 1899 (30 Stat. L., 1804):

That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to furnish one complete set of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate of the Fifty-fifth Congress not already entitled by law to receive the same; and he is further authorized to use for this purpose such incomplete sets as remain unsold or uncalled for by the beneficiaries designated to receive them under the authority contained in the several acts of Congress providing for the distribution and sale of this publication: Provided, That the Secretary of War may call upon the Public Printer to print and bind such parts of said work as will enable him to complete the sets herein provided for.

Act approved June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. L., 632):

That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to furnish one complete set of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate of the Fifty-sixth Congress not now entitled by law to receive the same; and in addition thereto he is also authorized and directed to furnish two complete sets of said work to each Senator, Representative, and Deleegate of the same Congress, irrespective of his having been already supplied, using for this purpose, as far as possible, those now stored in the War Department and remaining unsold or unclaimed by beneficiaries designated to receive them under the several acts of Congress providing for the distribution and sale of this publication: Provided, That the Secretary of War may call upon the Public Printer to print and bind such number of copies of certain volumes or parts as may be found necessary to complete the sets referred to.

(The sets provided for by the acts and resolutions of August 7, 1882, March 10, 1888, January 12, 1895, June 4, 1897, January 26, 1899, and June 6, 1900, have been distributed through the War Department.)

The regulations relating to the distribution, prescribed by the Secretary of War, provided that in the cases of individuals who might die during the period of distribution the volumes issued subsequent to death should be regarded as part of the personal estate of the decedents, and should be sent to such addresses as their executors or administrators might designate. An analogous course has been pursued as to libraries, societies or other organizations designated to

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receive the work, and every effort has been made by the Department to complete the several sets and prevent their disintegration.

Following are the names of the officers of the Army, with the highest rank held by them while engaged upon the work, who were employed at different periods in connection with the preparation and publication of the records: Brig. Gen. Fred C. Ainsworth; Col. H. M. Lazelle: Lieut. Cols. George W. Davis and Robert N. Scott; Majs. Hugh G. Brown and George B. Davis; Capts. J. A. Buchanan, Calvin D. Cowles, D. J. Craigie, Alfred M. Fuller, John Hartley, R. J. C. Irvine, Thomas T. Knox, Sumner H. Lincoln, Wyllys Lyman, S. Y. Seyburn, Frank Taylor and E. W. Whittemore; Lieuts. G. W. Baird, T. C. Davenport, J. H. Duval, A. C. Macomb and W. V. Wolfe. The atlas accompanying the volumes was compiled by Capt. C. D. Cowles, assisted by Lieut. A. C. Macomb.

In this connection it is but just to say that the name most closely associated with the work from its inception to its completion is that of Joseph W. Kirkley. As soon as the collecting and assorting of documents had reached a stage at which it was practicable to consider the question of their publication or rejection, the personal supervision of a competent compiler became of the first importance, in order to secure consistency and uniformity in the selection and arrangement of papers. Mr. Kirkley, then employed in the Adjutant-General's Office, was selected for the duty. Each volume has passed under his personal examination, and to his intelligence and industry, combined with his unsurpassed familiarity with the official records, is due in a large measure the high standard of the publication.

Commendation is also due to Joseph Darr, formerly lieutenantcolonel First West Virginia Cavalry, for especially valuable service, particularly that of the identification of doubtful names of persons; to John S. Moodey, by whom the General Index and the Additions and Corrections were designed; and to Robert W. Kerr, who has been in immediate charge of the distribution of the work from its commencement to the end.

Recognition is due the Government Printing Office for the standard and uniformity of its work upon the publication, which has been in progress for a period of over twenty years. That office has met all of the requirements of the Department without delay or friction. ELIHU ROOT, Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., August 22, 1901.

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