This volume closes the task, entered upon by me in April, 1895, ofcompiling all the official papers of the Presidents. Instead of findingit the labor of a year, as I supposed it would be when I undertook it,the work has occupied me closely for more than four years. A greatportion of this time has been consumed in the preparation of the Index.The Index is mainly the work of my son, James D. Richardson, jr., whoprepared it with such assistance as I could give him. He has givenhis entire time to it for three years. Every reference in it has beenexamined and compared with the text by myself. We have endeavoredto make it full, accurate, and comprehensive, with numerous crossreferences. There will be found in this Index a large number ofencyclopedic articles, which are intended, in part at least, to furnishthe reader definitions of politico-historical words and phrasesoccurring in the papers of the Chief Magistrates, or to develop morefully questions or subjects to which only indirect reference is made orwhich are but briefly discussed by them. There will also be found shortaccounts of several hundred battles in which the armies of the UnitedStates have been engaged; also descriptions of all the States of theUnion and of many foreign countries. We have striven earnestly to makethese encyclopedic articles historically correct, and to this end havecarefully compared them with the most eminent authorities. This featurewas not within the scope of the work as contemplated when the resolutionauthorizing the compilation was passed, nor when the act was passedrequiring the preparation of the Index; but with the approval of theJoint Committee on Printing I have inserted the articles, believing thatthey would be of interest. They contain facts and valuable informationnot always easily accessible, and it is hoped that they will serve tofamiliarize the young men of the country who read them with its historyand its trials and make of them better citizens and more devoted loversof our free institutions. There has been no effort or inclination on mypart to give partisan bias or political coloring of any nature to thesearticles. On the other hand, I have sought only to furnish reliablehistorical data and well-authenticated definitions and to avoid even theappearance of an expression of my own opinion. It is proper to add thatthese articles have all been read and approved by Mr. A.R. Spofford,Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress, to whom I now make acknowledgmentof my indebtedness.
In pursuance of the plan originally adopted certain papers wereomitted from the earlier volumes of this work. Referring to thesepapers, the following statement occurs in the Prefatory Note to VolumeI: "In executing the commission with which I have been charged I havesought to bring together in the several volumes of the series allPresidential proclamations, addresses, messages, and communications toCongress excepting those nominating persons to office and those whichsimply transmit treaties, and reports of heads of Departments whichcontain no recommendation from the Executive." In the Prefatory Note toVolume IX the statement was made that this course was a mistake, and"that the work to be exhaustive should comprise every message of thePresidents transmitting reports of heads of Departments and othercommunications, no matter how brief or unintelligible the papers were inthemselves, and that to make them intelli