Civil War: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

"The matter of publishing the official records of the Civil War seems to have been considered by Congress as early as May 19, 1864 (Stat. L. v. 13, p. 406)." Other acts followed from time to time, and the work was carried on in a more or less desultory fashion until December 14, 1877, when Captain Robert N. Scott, later lieutenant-colonel, was detailed to take charge of the work. At that time, 47 of the 79 volumes, later known as "preliminary prints" (W45.9:) had been compiled and 30 copies of each had been printed.

Group of officers. Mathew Brady Collection. (Army). From War and Conflict: Selected Images from the National Archives 1765-1970. Edited by Jonathan Heller. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1990. #154, p. 58.

Under Colonel Scott, the work was systematized and the plan finally adopted which has been carried on throughout the entire set know as the Official records. According to this plan, 4 series were issued as follows:

Series 1

Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of the first seizures of United States property in the Southern States, and of all military operations in the field, with the correspondence, orders, and returns relating especially thereto.

Series 2

Correspondence, orders, reports and returns, Union and Confederate, relating to prisoners of war and, so far as the military authorities were concerned, to state or political prisoners.

Series 3

Correspondence, orders, reports and returns of the Union authorities, embracing their correspondence with the Confederate officials, not relating especially to the subjects of the 1st and 2d series. It embraces the annual and special reports of the Secretary of War, of the General-in-Chief, and of the chiefs of the several staff corps and departments; the calls for troops and the correspondence between the national and the several State authorities.

Series 4

Correspondence, orders, reports and returns of the Confederate authorities, similar to that indicated for the Union officials, as of the 3d series, but excluding the correspondence between the Union and Confederate authorities given in that series.

After the death of Colonel Scott, Col. H. M. Lazelle was placed in charge, and later a Board of Publication carried on the work under direction of the Secretary of War. The name most closely associated with the work from its inception to its completion is that of Joseph W. Kirkley, the compiler under whose personal examination each volume passed. In 1902, a revised edition of the additions and corrections, already printed with the general index (W45.5:130), was issued, a separate pamphlet for each volume, for insertion in the volumes of the set. The War Records Office (W45.) was merged into the Record and Pension Office, July 1, 1899. Previous to that time, of the total number of volumes of the Rebellion records, 116 volumes, that is, serial numbers 1 to 118, had been published by the War Records Office. The remaining 11 volumes and the general index were issued by the Record and Pension Office. It has seemed wise not to divide the few last volumes from the remainder of the set, hence, they are all entered under W45.5: The serial numbers as given below are the numbers assigned to the set by the issuing office as found in circular issued July 1, 1902, and also in preceding circulars. Most of the sets issued were bound in black cloth and, after series 1, v. 23 (serial no. 35), had the serial number stamped on the back, consequently, in the following list the serial numbers beginning with 36 are not bracketed.1909 Checklist, p. 1391.