See William C. Davis' "An Honorable Defeat, The Last Days of the Confederate Government," pp. 198/9 "He [Breckenridge] wanted the papers turned over to the enemy intact, and as a safeguard, Breckinridge gave exactly the same orders to General Cooper. The archives he said were 'essential to the history of the struggle.'
Davis' "Breckinridge, Statesman, Soldier, Symbol," p.517, "He [Breckinridge] ordered the head of the Bureau of War [Robert Kean] to store the archives in some safe place in Charlotte, and to stay with them until the Federals occupied the town, at which time he was to turn over the records to the officer in charge. At all odds, the archives were to be protected against destruction."
George Martin