Editorial Paragraphs.
General William Preston, of Lexington, has been elected Vice-President of our Society for Kentucky, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of General S. B. Buckner, who wrote that while feeling the deepest interest in the Society and its work, his frequent absence from home precluded him from giving us the active co-operation desirable.
He warmly advised the election of General Preston, whom he regarded as every way fitted for the position. To his gallant and distinguished services as a soldier, General Preston adds high character, wide influence and that chaste oratory which seems to be the natural inheritance of the Prestons, and we doubt not that we have committed the interests of the Society in Kentucky into most worthy hands.
The Kentucky Branch of the Southern Historical Society was organized at Lexington, on the 9th of December, by the election of the following officers:
Acting President--General William Preston.
Vice-Presidents--James O. Harrison, J. Stoddard Johnston, General John S. Williams, General Basil W. Duke and General Joseph Lewis.
Secretary — James A. Headly.
Treasurer--Major R. S. Bullock.
Executive Committee--Prof. J. D. Pickett, Colonel W. C. P. Breckinridge, Major H. B. McClellan, J. R. Morton, Esq.; Major John R. Viley, J. Soule Smith, Esq.; F. K. Hunt, Esq.; Major P. P. Johnston, Major B. G. Thomas, J. P. Metcalf, Esq.; G. W. Ranck, Esq.; Colonel C. C. Morgan, Lee Bradley, Esq., and James A. Grinstead, Esq.
The following plan of organization was adopted:
This Society shall be known as the Kentucky branch of the Southern Historical Society, and its object is to collect for the archives of the Parent Society such historical material relating to the Confederate war as can be secured in the State of Kentucky.
It shall be located at Lexington, Kentucky, and shall hold meetings at least once each year.
Membership in the Parent Society shall entitle persons to membership in this Society.
The officers shall consist of one acting president, five vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee, who shall hold their offices for one year or until their successors are elected.
The executive committee shall consist of fifteen members, with power to increase its members, and five of its members shall constitute a quorum.
The officers of this Society shall ex-officio be members of the executive committee.
The executive committee is charged with the general direction and management of the interests and work of this Society; has authority to adopt rules for its own government (not inconsistent with this plan), and shall at the annual meeting submit a report of its proceedings to this Society.
The acting president, and in his absence the executive committee, shall have the authority to call meetings of this society whenever it is thought best. [160]
Admirable addresses were made on the occasion by Mr. J. K. Morton, General William Preston, General George D. Johnston and Colonel W. P. C. Breckinridge.
The organization goes into operation under most flattering auspices, and we shall expect to have good reports from it.
There have been also steps taken for the organization of a similar society in Louisville, and the details of that organization are being matured by gentlemen who have it in hand. If there could be a union of the Louisville movement with the Lexington society into one State organization, with local associations at Louisville, Lexington, and other points in Kentucky, it would be best, but we are entirely willing to leave the matter to the good judgment of our friends in Kentucky. And we confidently look for such practical co-operation as shall not only extend our membership, and circulate our publications in Kentucky, but bring us also important contributions to our archies, and especially valuable material for a history of the war in the West and Southwest.
We hope that other States also will move in the matter of forming auxiliary Societies. Let us push the good work, while the men who made the history live to tell it.
Sketches of operations in the West and Southwest are solicited at this office. We have written to a large number of officers who served in the armies of the West to send us such material, and are very anxious to secure full discussions of the campaigns and battles of the gallant soldiers of those armies.
To several letters asking why we do not publish more Western material, we have returned the ready reply : Because our brethren of that section have not sent it to us. We have the official reports of battles published by the Confederate Congress; but as a rule we must confine our publications to original matter, and we again beg our friends in the West to send it to us. Let those who made the history tell it. We expect to publish in our next issue General Breckinridge's report of the battle of Chickamauga.
Our book Notices are crowded out this month.
Commodore Dahlgren's memoir of his son, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, has been kindly sent us by Colonel John P. Nicholson, of Philadelphia. We have for a long time been trying to procure a copy. We propose at an early day to discuss in full the question of the authenticity of the “Dahlgren papers” raised in the book; and we will only say now that the signatures given in the memoir with a view of showing that a forgery had been committed, afford proof positive of the genuineness of the papers, as we can convince any fair minded man who will compare them with a photograph copy of the originals in our possession. But we will furnish abundant proof on these points.
