red men in that war, but
there is no index indicating where records of such services may
be found and in order to ascertain data showing the names,
organizations and numbers of such colored men it would be
necessary to make an extended search of the entire collection of
Revolutionary War records in the custody of this Department. Even
after making such an extended search the results would be
doubtful because the War Department records afford but little
information showing whether Revolutionary War soldiers were white
or colored.

No attempt has ever been made by the War Department to compile
information regarding the numbers or names of colored men in the
Revolutionary War or the designations of the organizations to
which they belonged, and owing to the limited clerical force
allowed by law, the Department cannot undertake any compilation,
which, as already explained, would in any event necessarily be
incomplete and unsatisfactory.

Historical investigators of recognized standing are permitted to
have access to the War Department records under certain
conditions, but the Revolutionary War records have become so worn
and dilapidated by reason of lapse of time and long use thereof
that access thereto is permitted only under exceptional
circumstances. Inasmuch as those records are very incomplete and
afford scarcely any information bearing upon the subject in
question it is not seen that any useful purpose can be served by
granting permission to search those records for the data desired.

Many of the States that had troops in the Revolutionary War have
published rosters of such troops. These rosters can probably be
readily consulted in the Congressional Library, and it is
believed that they afford the most promising source for obtaining
the information sought

Very respectfully,
H. T. MCCAIN,
_The Adjutant General_

The following sent out some time ago under the frank of Congressman
Goldfogle may have some historic value:

When the Jamestown Exposition Bill was under consideration by the
Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions of the House of
Representatives, at Washington, Congressman Henry M. Goldfogle,
of New York, a member of the committee, took a ver