The archives.
The archives of the
Confederate State Department were purchased by the United States Government in the year 1872 from
Colonel John T. Pickett.
They are in the main, but not absolutely, full and correct.
I called
Secretary Richardson's attention soon after the time of purchase to one very important forgery.
It deserves to be noted that the officials at the head of the
Confederate State Department and those prominent in its service who were best qualified to write concerning its operations have published little or nothing about it.
Mr. Benjamin in response to
Mr. Davis's inquiries, wrote something, but not much, about the Hampton Roads conference;
Mr. Hunter,
Mr. Stephens, and
Judge Campbell, considerably more, but on that point chiefly.
I regret now that I did not take up this general subject in 1872, but all my time was then engrossed by the work and cares of life.
In the absence of reliable exposition by competent persons, and, indeed, nearly all of them having passed away, we are favored with alleged ‘lost chapters’ of Confederate history.
The public is told that the secret things of that period are to be brought to light; how Prince Polignac was sent to
Paris to swap off
Louisiana for intervention by
Louis Napoleon, and to supersede
Slidell, while another writer tells us how
Mr. Duncan F. Kenner, of
Louisiana, was dispatched with authority to supersede both
Slidell and
Mason.
Perhaps this is the proper place to say that the secrets of the Confederate Government were well kept.
I have heard a statement to the effect that the United States Government was regularly kept advised of the military strength and movements of the
Confederacy by some faithless War Department official, but this story has no foundation in fact.
It was hatched at a time when gossip was easy and imagination
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active.
Another oft-printed story is that
Miss Van Lew, a person of known Union sympathies, residing in
Richmond, but having no official position or social entre, contrived to purvey highly important information for the
Washington Government.
She might have picked up some empty gossip and rumors in circulation, but nothing more.
In fact, even the leading citizens of
Richmond knew little or nothing of what was passing or contemplated by the government until events actually transpired.
The newspapers of
Richmond were hardly any better off. The sessions of the Confederate Congress on all matters of importance were with closed doors and have never been published.
The printed reports of the public sessions were very meager—in fact, mere skeleton reports.
The Federal spy occasionally entered the
Southern lines, and, perhaps, visited
Richmond, but he went away as wise as when he came.
He could hardly have done any good work, or he would have reported to the War Department that
Richmond had practically no garrison before May. 1863, and only a small one afterward.
The blockade runners were allowed to pass between
Richmond and
Washington, but were a harmless set of gentlemen.
I used to cross-examine them, but met only one that had any intelligence of interest, and that was on subjects not connected with the war. This person was a woman who knew how to use her eyes and ears, but not well enough to affect a campaign or change the face of history.
