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were sent to Washington by order, it was said, of Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War.
At a later date General Beauregard succeeded in recovering his baggage; but, despite his endeavors and the promise of high Federal officials, he could not get his papers.
These were finally placed in the War Records office, and through the attention of the gentlemanly officers in charge he has been able to procure such copies of them as were indispensable for the purposes of this work.
We are credibly informed that military papers and documents belonging to General A. S. Johnston, and embracing only six or seven months of the beginning of the war, were bought, a few years ago, from his heirs for the sum of ten thousand dollars; while General Beauregard's papers, relating to upwards of twenty months of a most interesting part of our struggle, are kept and used by the Government with no lawful claim to them and in violation, as we hold, of the articles of surrender agreed upon by Generals Johnston and Sherman.
We may add that General Beauregard is not only deprived of his property, but is forced to pay for copies of his own papers whenever the necessity arises to make use of them.
General Pemberton was anxious to turn over his command to General Beauregard, but the latter would not accept it until he had examined, in company with that officer, all the important points and defences of the Department as it then stood.
Accordingly, on the 16th of September, they began a regular tour of inspection which lasted until the 21st.
They were, at that date, in Savannah.
On the 24th, having returned to Charleston, General Beauregard went through the usual formality of assuming command.
The result of his inspection is given in his official notes, to be found in the Appendix to the present chapter.
He made his report as favorable as possible, and was not over-critical, especially in matters of engineering, as he well knew his predecessor had but a limited knowledge of that branch of the service, and had, besides, no experienced military engineer to assist him. Many changes, it was apparent to General Beauregard, were necessary, and he determined to effect them as soon as circumstances should permit.
It may not be out of place to mention here some of the defensive works constructed under General Pemberton's orders.
He had adopted a line from Secessionville, on the east,
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