Official Records of the War of the Rebellion

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
Name	Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	American Civil War
Genre	Documentary edition
Publisher	United States War Department
Pub date	1880–1901
Media type	Print

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion is the multivolume documentary compilation of official correspondence, reports, orders, returns, and maps relating to the American Civil War. Conceived in the postwar era, it was produced by the United States War Department and published across the late 19th century to provide a comprehensive archival basis for scholarship on the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America military administrations.

Background and Publication History

The project was authorized under the auspices of the United States Congress and administered by the United States War Department, following advocacy by figures including General Ulysses S. Grant and historians such as George Bancroft, with editorial oversight tied to officials like Brigadier General Henry W. Benham and later Major General George H. Thomas. Production began as part of broader postwar federal efforts exemplified by publications from the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress, and it unfolded amid debates in the 1870s United States Congress over federal publication policy, budget appropriations, and archival access. The first volumes were issued in 1880, and the full series reached completion near 1901 under successive Secretary of War administrations influenced by figures like William Tecumseh Sherman and John Schofield.

Scope and Organization

The compilation covers operations in the Eastern Theater, Western Theater, Trans-Mississippi Theater, and naval actions involving the United States Navy and the Confederate Navy, with separate series for Union and Confederate documents. Volumes are organized into series and parts that parallel campaigns such as the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Vicksburg Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Red River Campaign. The structure includes official returns, after-action reports, orders of battle, court-martial proceedings, prisoner lists, engineering reports on fortifications like Fort Sumter and Fort Donelson, and naval dispatches referencing operations at Fort Fisher and the CSS Virginia. Cartographic material ranges from expedition maps related to the Shiloh engagement to coastal surveys used during the Blockade of the Confederacy.

Editorial Process and Contributors

Editorial work involved military officers, clerks, and civilian historians recruited or detailed to the War Department, including editors, proofreaders, and cartographers drawn from institutions such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Notable contributors and correspondents whose papers appear in the series include Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, George B. McClellan, William H. Seward, Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, Winfield Scott Hancock, Nathaniel P. Banks, Ambrose Burnside, George G. Meade, James Longstreet, Philip Sheridan, Fitz John Porter, A. H. Foote, and David Farragut. The editorial process entailed selection from War Department archives, verification against regimental records from units like the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and decisions about redaction and reproduction of sensitive material, overseen by officials such as Brigadier General Joseph D. Rucker and staff connected to the National Archives and Records Administration predecessor collections.

Content and Notable Volumes

Key volumes contain correspondence from major campaigns: reports of the Army of the Potomac command during the Antietam and Fredericksburg campaigns; detailed accounts of the Vicksburg Campaign under Ulysses S. Grant; dispatches from the Department of the Gulf during operations in Louisiana and the Battle of New Orleans legacy; and naval logs from blockading squadrons including actions involving the USS Monitor and USS Merrimack (CSS Virginia). Volumes dedicated to Western Theater operations cover reports from the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Cumberland during battles such as Shiloh, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga. Special parts compile material on prisoner exchanges at Camp Sumter (Andersonville), medical reports tied to the United States Sanitary Commission, ordnance records referencing production at the Schenectady Armory and the Tredegar Iron Works, and engineering assessments used in sieges like Vicksburg and Petersburg.

Reception and Historical Significance

From its issuance, the collection was hailed by scholars, veteran organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans, and academic institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Virginia as an indispensable primary-source corpus. Historians like Frederick Jackson Turner, James Ford Rhodes, J. G. Randall, and later Bruce Catton and Drew Gilpin Faust relied on the series for interpretive work on command, logistics, and civil-military relations embodied in episodes like Sherman's March to the Sea and the Appomattox Campaign. Critics have noted editorial omissions and the selective survival of documents tied to controversies involving figures such as Ferdinand Lee Hubbell and debates over the accuracy of after-action narratives promoted by staff officers like George E. Pickett.

Availability and Modern Editions

Original print sets remain in major research libraries including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the New York Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, and university collections at West Point, while microform and digital reproductions have expanded access through projects at institutions like the HathiTrust Digital Library and university press initiatives from University of North Carolina Press. Reprints and annotated editions have been produced by specialty publishers and academic editors, and modern scholarship integrates the series with manuscript collections at the Bates College Lewiston, the New-York Historical Society, and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History to reconstruct campaign narratives and test long-standing interpretations.

Category:American Civil War sources