GENERAL:  I.  I have the honor to submit herewith for publicaiton the record of interments of 22,900 deceased Union soldiers at the following national cemeteries, viz:  Fort Harrison, Virginia; Wilmington, and Raleigh, North Carolina; Port Hudson, Louisiana; Brownsville, San Antonio, and Galveston, Texas; Little Rock, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Mound City, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Springfield, Missouri; and Forts Scott and Leavenworth, Kansas, together with those at many of the local cemeteries and military posts in the States of Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas; and also brief histories and descriptions of most of the cemeteries; the whole constituting the XVIIIth volume of the Rolls of Honor.
     II. Of the 22,900 graves enumerated in this volume, the names of the occupants of 11,370 are known, and those of 11,530 unknown.
     This proportion, about one-half known, being considerably less than the usual proportion of two-thirds known, which generally holds good throughout the country.
     The comparatively small proportion of known graves in this volume is owning to the fact that out of 3,600 soldiers interred at Port Hudson, Louisiana, the names of only 393, or less than one-ninth, are known; that of the 813 interred at Fort Harrison, Virginia, only 236, or about one-fourth, are known; that of the 2,059 at Wilmington, North Carolina, only 699 or about one third are known; and that of the 3,095 at Mound City, Illinois, only 1,160, or about one-third, are known.
     The reason why so small a portion of the graves at these places could be identified must be looked for in the fact that many bodies were hurriedly interred in isolated spots, with only temporary marks, or with none at all; that these burials were mostly made at a very early period of the war; and that the ground was often in the hands of the enemy for a considerable period after the action; when, of course, it could not be expected that any permanent marks of identity would be established.
     III.  This volume increases the total number of graves now recorded in printed form to about 193,00.  Of the occupants of these graves the names of about 120,000 appear as known, leaving (of those already printed) about 73,000 as yet unknown.)
     It is desirable that all persons who may have in their possession records by which any of the graves of these 73,000 unknown soldiers might be recognized, should know that it is the wish of this department to recover and make use of all such means of identification; and that any communications on this subject may be forwarded to the Quartermaster General at Washington, free of postage, and that when they are received there, immediate steps will be taken to establish the identity of the remains, and to have it recorded in printed form.
     IV.  It is supposed that there yet remain to be printed the records of about 112,000 graves of decreased Union soldiers and prisoners of war, making an aggregate of 305,000 graves, of the occupants of which the names of about 100,000 will not at present, if ever, be recovered.
     V.  I would respectfully refer to my letter of May 27, 1868, accompanying the XVIth volume of the Rolls of Honor, for the views there expressed as to the very large number of errors in the spelling of names, date, company, &c., which must unavoidably occur in these rolls as at present printed, and as to the desirableness of reprinting them in a revised form hereafter, under careful supervision.