Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies

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Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Reference works, history
Publisher Government Printing Office
Media typePrint (Hardback)
No. of books30 volumes
OCLC 5194016

The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, commonly known as the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies or Official Records (OR or ORs), is the most extensive collection of American Civil War naval records available to the general public. It includes selected first-hand accounts, orders, reports, maps, diagrams, and correspondence drawn from official records of both Union and Confederate navies.

American Civil War Civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North (Union) and the South (Confederacy). The most studied and written about episode in U.S. history, the Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

Naval warfare Combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water

Naval warfare is human combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river.

A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought. a document is a form, or written piece that trains a line of thought or as in history, a significant event. The word originates from the Latin documentum, which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": the verb doceō denotes "to teach". In the past, the word was usually used to denote a written proof useful as evidence of a truth or fact. In the computer age, "document" usually denotes a primarily textual computer file, including its structure and format, e.g. fonts, colors, and images. Contemporarily, "document" is not defined by its transmission medium, e.g., paper, given the existence of electronic documents. "Documentation" is distinct because it has more denotations than "document". Documents are also distinguished from "realia", which are three-dimensional objects that would otherwise satisfy the definition of "document" because they memorialize or represent thought; documents are considered more as 2 dimensional representations. While documents are able to have large varieties of customization, all documents are able to be shared freely, and have the right to do so, creativity can be represented by documents, also. History, events, examples, opinion, etc. all can be expressed in documents.

Contents

History

Origins

Professor James Russell Soley James R. Soley.jpg
Professor James Russell Soley

The work of preparing for publication of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, which was begun 7 July 1884, was organized under the superintendency of Professor James Russell Soley, United States Navy, at that time librarian of the Navy Department, afterwards Assistant Secretary of the Navy. [1] Compilation of the OR was begun in the Library soon after its organization, and was definitely appropriated for by act of July 7, 1884. [2]

James R. Soley American naval historian

James Russell Soley was a lawyer and Naval historian and in the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the U.S. Navy.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. With the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the third-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force and the United States Army.

United States Department of the Navy

The United States Department of the Navy was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps and, when directed by the President, the United States Coast Guard, as a service within the Department of the Navy, though each remain independent service branches. The Department of the Navy was an Executive Department and the Secretary of the Navy was a member of the President's cabinet until 1949, when amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 changed the name of the National Military Establishment to the Department of Defense and made it an Executive Department. The Department of the Navy then became, along with the Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force, a Military Department within the Department of Defense: subject to the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of Defense.

Publication

on July 31, 1894, [2] the sum of US$15,000 was authorized for printing the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, the first in a long series of Congressional appropriations provided annually until 1915. Five volumes were printed during 1895, 1896, 1897, and one volume followed each year thereafter until 1902. A paucity of source material of Confederate origin (confirmed by appearance in print of these first volumes) resulted in a request that an agent be appointed in the War Records Section to seek out and collect official records of both the Union and Confederate Navies from other than sources available at the Navy Department. [1]

United States dollar Currency of the United States of America

The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its territories per the United States Constitution since 1792. In practice, the dollar is divided into 100 smaller cent (¢) units, but is occasionally divided into 1000 mills (₥) for accounting. The circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars.

An appropriation bill, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In most democracies, approval of the legislature is necessary for the government to spend money.

Seventeen additional volumes were published between the year 1902 and World War I. In 1922 as the printing of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion (a work which had begun in 1894) neared completion, a Congressional Committee on Printing forbade further expenditures for this purpose pending a time when the publishing of such historical source material might be undertaken jointly by all concerned. Permission was granted, however, to complete the printing of a monograph then in the printer's hands but further work on many other proposed subjects was stopped for the next dozen years. [1]

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as, "the war to end all wars," it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the resulting 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

See also

<i>Confederate Military History</i> book by Clement A. Evans

Confederate Military History is a 12-volume series of books written and/or edited by former Confederate Brigadier General Clement A. Evans that deals with specific topics related to the military personalities, places, battles, and campaigns in various Southern United States states, including those of the Confederacy.

The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion, commonly known as the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies or Official Records, is the most extensive collection of American Civil War land warfare records available to the general public. It includes selected first-hand accounts, orders, reports, maps, diagrams, and correspondence drawn from official records of both Union and Confederate armies.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Office of Naval Records and Library 1882-1946". Naval History and Heritage Command. United States Navy. September 19, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2019.PD-icon.svgThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. 1 2 "Civil War: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies". National Archives. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2019.PD-icon.svgThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages."

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