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The Elmira Prison Camp Online Library

The Elmira Prison Camp Online Library > Official Records

One of the most important resources that can be used in researching the Elmira Prison Camp are reports written prior to and during the months the camp was in operation. These can be found in a 70-volume collection entitled The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume VII. The Official Records (or the OR as they are commonly called), were published between in 1881 and 1901 under the direction of seventeen secretaries of war and numerous government and military personnel. Divided into four series, the OR contain the most comprehensive and complete first hand account of the Civil War. The series are divided as follows:

  • Series 1: Records of all military actions and seizure of property
  • Series 2: Records relating to prisoners of war, state prisoners, and political prisoners
  • Series 3: All official records not relating to those included in Series 1 and 2
  • Series 4: All records not published in the first three series

    In its final form, the OR consists of 138,579 pages with 1,006 maps and diagrams assembled in 130 books. A comprehensive index, complete with corrections and additions, was published in 1901.

    A companion series to the OR was published which included Naval documents. Entitled Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, this was a 2-series work that finished publication in 1922.

    Complete copies of both sets of the Official Records are available online at the National Archives.


    The letters were written between the following people:
    Contents

  • Lt. Col. Charles T. Alexander: Surgeon, U.S. Army Inspector General
  • Lt. Col. Seth Eastman: U.S. Army, Commanding Depot
  • Col. William Hoffman: 3rd Inf. and Commissary Gen of Prisoners
  • The Hon. Edwin McMasters Stanton: Secretary of War
  • Brig. Gen. Edward D. Townsend: Adj. General
  • 1862:
    June

    1864:
    | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

    1865:
    January | February | March | July | August