Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the war of 1861-1865, vol. 1, Condensed history of regiments.

[157] either in Confederate prisons or in the camps of paroled prisoners. These books give also the dates of their supposed deaths, the whole being made up largely from the affidavits of returning comrades. The precise authorship of these books is now unknown, but they were probably compiled under the general direction of Col. Gardner Tufts, State Relief Agent at Washington, who was in the habit of sending out men to meet returned prisoners and to obtain information as to those left behind. This information was necessarily hearsay evidence, and in many cases may have proved incorrect, or only approximate. It was easy to err in regard to the middle initial of a soldier's name, or to forget whether he had served in the 2d Infantry or 2d Cavalry; especially if he had, as sometimes happened to a prisoner, exchanged his own tattered uniform for that of a dead soldier of some other regiment, possibly from some other State. The actual fact of death was also sometimes a matter of mere surmise; if the witness said that a certain soldier was ‘dying when he left,’ this man's name would naturally go upon the rolls, although his disease might in twenty-four hours have taken a favorable turn, so that the patient actually recovered. The only possible remedy for these errors has been in comparing the lists, as carefully as possible, with the names and records to be found on the original rolls or in the best regimental histories, and this has been done. Names not thus confirmed are marked with a star, and any additional information has been appended in footnotes. It has been thought better to print even doubtful cases,—the doubt being indicated,—than to omit any that may possibly be authentic.