Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 9.djvu/124



HE publication by the Federal government of the official records of both armies throws much new light upon the military operations of the war. Even the best informed during the progress of a campaign were limited in their knowledge of movements to the immediate horizon of their observation and experience, while to but few were known sufficient facts to enable them to understand and to give an accurate account of a great battle or campaign. But with the volumes of the official records before him, in which have been reproduced with remarkable accuracy and completeness almost every order or report, the impartial searcher after truth is able to comprehend every movement from its inception to its close and to rectify many errors which have crystallized into history. An instance in point is to be found in the matter of the Kentucky campaign. A close study of the record clearly shows that while the execution of it was in the