GDG- A Question on the Bachelder papers

[Tom Ryan]

<<Which, when you think of how pervasive Bachelder's influence was during
his time, is almost astounding.  The sad thing is that the surviving
documents represent only a portion of what he had amassed.  If memory serves
me right, a large part of his papers were stored in a barn, and destroyed in
a fire.  These included such priceless items as notebooks of his early
interviews with veterans of the battle.>>


When you hear of a loss of sources such as this, it is unsettling.  It
requires researchers/historians to work that much harder to recreate what
actually happened.  Case in point is the landmark study called "Come
Retribution" by Tidwell, Hall & Gaddy, that attempted to describe the events
surrounding the assassination of Lincoln and whether the Confederate
government was involved.  Most of the government records had been destroyed.
Information had to be derived from peripheral material.

It makes you wonder how much information is still stored away in family
vaults and attics that has never or rarely seen the light of day.  Wouldn't
it be great if there was a national Civil War documentation disclosure
drive, encouraging anyone in possession of letters, diaries or records of
any kind to make them available for public knowledge and use.

Tom Ryan