I have not been able to identify this description of record destruction you mention. Can you advise me the page/s where you found this?

I wonder who authorized destruction of these particular documents. I had thought Breckenridge tried to preserve the War Department records. Perhaps he only meant Orders, correspondence, etc.

CHARLOTTE, N. C., April 27, 1865.

General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON,
Greensborough, N. C.:

It was found impracticable to transfer the records of the War Department further than this place, and they remain here under my charge. The President and Secretary of War impressed me with the necessity of their preservation in our own hands, if possible; it not, then by the enemy, as essential to the history of the struggle. On account of your superior knowledge of the condition of affairs, I desire to have your advise as to the disposition that shall be made of them.

S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector-General.
OR Ser. I, Vol. 47, Pt. 3, p. 842