The Texas in the Civil War Message Board

McCulloch burned Northern Sub-Dist. records

Below is an article from the CONFEDERATE VETERAN v23n10p458 (October 1915) submitted by H.G. Askew, who helped Gen. H.E. McCulloch burn records in the Bonham courthouse fireplace. Evidently Askew had a copy of this Jun 4, 1865 letter and assumed that McCulloch had sent it to the appropriate party.
.
Question: Was McCulloch's Jun 4, 1865 letter included in the OFFICIAL RECORD?

.
Hint: The Jun 2, 1865 "Surrender to the Union Army" by Gen. J.B. Magruder, et.al. can be found
ORsIv48/2[S#102]p728.
.
*********************
.
Waco, Tex.
June 4, 1865
.
I. Learning that the Army of the Trans-Mississippi is certainly disbanded, all officers of the line and staff who are at their post and in the faithful discharge of their official duties or legally absent on the 26th day of last month are permanently relieved from duty as officers of the Confederate Army, and all furloughs given under the Paragraph I., General Orders No. 11, will be regarded as a permanent discharge from the same.
.
II. All officers having charged any public property will turn it over to the county court in which it is at present, to be held subject to the order to the Governor of Texas, and as far as possible all private property in the employment of the government will be promptly returned to its proper owners.
.
III. All armed resistance to the Federal government having ceased, all soldiers and officers of the Confederate Army are advised to go to and remain at their homes, resorting at once to their usual vocations, determined to remain good, quiet, orderly citizens of the country and fully resolved to aid the civil authorities in the regular enforcement of the civil laws and in suppressing all lawlessness of every kind.
.
Henry E. McCulloch, Brigadier General,
Commanding Northern Sub-District of Texas.
.
*******
.
Austin, Tex,
January 22, 1915
.
Brig. Gen. Henry E. McCulloch was at the end of May, 1865, and had been, I think, for nearly two years previously, Commander of the CSA Military Subdistrict of Texas, and as the time mentioned he had his headquarters in the courthouse in Bonham, Tex. From about January 1, 1865, to the later days of May, 1865, when those headquarters were permanently abandoned and General McCulloch left there to return to his home because it was evident that the war was over, at least as far as the forces under his command were concerned, I was attached to his staff, and my service was principally in the adjutant general’s department, which had charge of all the headquarters’ letters, rolls from commands, and other records, reports, etc., usually falling within the province of an adjutant general’s office. There was at the time of the break-up a large accumulation at head quarters of order books, letters received, copies of letters sent, reports of various kinds from staff officers and heads of commands, not only at and near Bonham, but from many other places in the said subdistrict, including muster rolls and subsequent rolls from regiments, battalions, companies, etc.
.
General McCulloch decided that the situation of the country at the time, nearly in a state of anarchy, it would not be practicable to convey those records to any place where they would be certain of preservation. There was no Federal commander near at hand to accept a surrender. Therefore he further decided to have them destroyed, which was done by taking them from their pigeonholes, etc., which was done by taking them from their pigeon holes, etc., and burning them in the open fireplaces of the Bonham courthouse, mostly, if not altogether, in the fireplaces of the rooms used by General McCulloch and the adjutant general’s department.
.
The affiant well remembers that Gen. McCulloch and himself participated in the destruction of records and the destruction seemed thorough and complete. And after a lapse of nearly 50 years, I have never known of any written documents being found which was in those headquarters when the burning commenced.”

H.G. Askew,
Brigadier General Commanding Second Bridade, U.C.V.
.
**********************
.
From my 200-page Name Index:
.
ASKEW, Henry Garrison Askew (1846 TX-1921) m-M.E. Wood (A.AAG, TX CSA)
.
Again, my Question: Was McCulloch's Jun 4, 1865 letter included in the OFFICIAL RECORD?
.
Patti, prochette@Juno.com
.