The Source

Finding Aids for the ‘Official Records’ & Overview of ‘O.R.-Navies’

By Michael K. Shaffer · Originally published April 2016 · p. 11

Finding Aids for the ‘Official Records’ & Overview of ‘O.R.-Navies’ Last month, we explored basic practices for using the 128-volume set, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; in this installment, we will continue to focus on this source, explore various finding aids, and examine the O.R. - Navies. A general guide, one offering a good survey of the various parts of the O.R., exists in: Alan, C., and Barbara A. Aimone. A User’s guide to the Official Records of the American Civil War. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Pub., 1993. The authors detail the history of how the official records came about, and the book’s various appendices offer shortcuts for mining the O.R., and make this work a helpful tool. Newer reprints of the O.R., such as The National Historical Society’s 1971 edition, contain a ‘Contents of Preceding Volumes’ section near the beginning of each book. This quickguide can help in finding reports and correspondence. Dallas Irvine’s Military Operations of the Civil War (although out of print), continues as a wonderful tool for drilling-down to precise details within the records. Researchers might locate the condensed hard copy version in a local library (WorldCat http://www.worldcat.org/), or view the full version on microfiche (M1036/1815). Specific citation for the print edition follows: Irvine, Dallas, comp. Military Operations of the Civil War; A Guideindex to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865. National Archives publication no. 68-11. Washington: Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1968–<1980 >. Working as the senior military specialist at the National Archives, Irvine started this series to help researchers. The five-volume, nine-part work began during the centennial of the war, and the first edition appeared in 1966. Fourteen years later, publication of part nine Military Operations of the Civil War; A Guide-index to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865. completed the series. Irvine, and a team of Civil War research experts at the National Archives, took great pains to cross-reference the records from the army, navy, and the Atlas. Users will need to spend some time in understanding the sequencing of Irvine’s work; for example, Volume II, which covers the Eastern Theater, published first, in 1968. Volume I (Conspectus), published in 1977, and provides an outline of the previous five volumes, while helping users acclimate to the entire collection. Five volumes deal with the Eastern Theater; one volume covers the Western Theater; and one volume each for the Lower Seaboard and Trans-Mississippi Theater. If, for example, one has an interest in the action at Ball’s Bluff, a quick check, in the first volume on the Eastern Theater, will reveal the exact volume of the O.R. to consult. Provided references identify Federal reports

REINFORCEMENTS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

The short name for this series of 128 volumes is Official Records.

separately from Confederate reports. And if related information exists in the Naval records, or the Atlas, Irvine included them. His work enhances our use of the O.R.s! Seeking to avoid an advantage from their counterparts in the army, United States Navy officials sought to create their own set of records. The resultant work - Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion – began printing in 1894. Twenty-three years later, the final of 27 volumes comprising Series I rolled from the presses. At the end of World War I, work began on Series II, and the three volumes in this series, and an index, brought the entire O.R.-Navies to 31 volumes. Recapping acts of the cruisers fill the first three volumes in Series I, and the following two volumes cover the Gulf, Atlantic Coast, and action along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. The Federal blockading squadron efforts comprise several resulting volumes: 6-12 detail the North Atlantic, 12-16 the South Atlantic, and volumes 16-22 the Gulf. Follow the brown-water navies on the rivers in the Western Theater in volumes 22-27. Confederate records embrace the three volumes in Series II, as well as statistical data on many vessels – North and South – found in the first volume of the series. A wealth of Confederate foreign diplomacy correspondence fills volume three. The index will aid the user in finding information under study, and as held true for the army records, Cornell University’s website also contains the O.R.-Navies. Visit this site at http://ebooks.library. cornell.edu/m/moawar/ofre.html, and view scanned pages in PDF, JPG, or text formats. Next month, we will take a look at the Official Military Atlas of the Civil War, as well as other map sources. Please send suggestions for future ‘The Source’ columns to the email address shown below. Good luck in your quest to learn more! Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer and instructor. His memberships include Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater and Georgia Association of Historians. He can be contacted at [email protected] and www.civilwarhistorian.net and followed on Facebook www.facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer and Twitter.