<P> The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion or often more simply the Official Records or ORs, constitute the most extensive collection of primary sources of the history of the American Civil War . Cornell University lists the official title as, "The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies". They include selected first - hand accounts, orders, reports, maps, diagrams, and correspondence drawn from War and Navy Department records of both Confederate and Union governments . </P> <P> Collection of the records began in 1864; no special attention was paid to Confederate records until just after the capture of Richmond, Virginia, in 1865, when with the help of Confederate Gen. Samuel Cooper, Union Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck began the task of collecting and preserving such archives of the Confederacy as had survived the war . In 1866 a joint resolution of Congress authorized the compilation and publication under auspices of the War Department . Eventually, seventeen Secretaries of War were involved in the process . In 1877, Army Captain Robert N. Scott was appointed by the Secretary of War as director of the Publications Office, War Records . (Scott's name appears in each volume as the preparer, listed with the rank of brevet lieutenant colonel, 3rd U.S. Artillery .) </P> <P> The original title for the records was The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion and they were later renamed The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, which has led to some lasting controversy over the official name for the war . As finally published, the records consist of 138,579 pages with 1,006 maps and diagrams assembled in 128 books, organized as 70 volumes grouped in four series, published between 1881 and 1901 . Each of the four series of books in the compilation is divided into "volumes" numbered from the beginning of the series with Roman numerals . In series II, III, and IV each "volume" coincides with a book . In series I, however, it was found to be usually impracticable, beginning with volume X, to confine "volumes," as units of content, within single books . Volume X and most subsequent volumes in series I were therefore issued in "parts" distinguished by subsidiary Roman numerals, each occupying a separate book . Beginning with volume XXIV, Arabic "serial numbers" were also printed on the backs of the books issued, although these numbers were not included on the title pages, and are therefore not universally used in citations . </P> <Dl> <Dt> Series I--Military Operations </Dt> <Dd> 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 specially thereto (Serial Nos. 1 - 111) </Dd> <Dt> Series II--Prisoners </Dt> <Dd> 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 (Serial Nos. 114 - 121) </Dd> <Dt> Series III--Union Authorities </Dt> <Dd> Correspondence, orders, reports, and returns of the Union authorities (including their correspondence with the Confederate officials) not relating specifically to the subjects of series I and II . It includes 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 (Serial Nos. 122 - 126) </Dd> <Dt> Series IV--Confederate Authorities </Dt> <Dd> Correspondence, orders, reports, and returns of the Confederate authorities, similar to the Union material in series III, but excluding the correspondence between the Union and Confederate authorities given in that series (Serial Nos. 127 - 129) </Dd> </Dl>

Official record of the war of the rebellion