http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2563520

Military and naval service of the United States Coast Survey 1861-1865 Compiled from official records and published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, E. Lester Jones, Superintendent

The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey has a long and honorable record in the service of the country, and it has been decided to publish a compilation from official records to call attention to this important auxiliary to the Army and Navy in time of war. The importance of such a civil bureau in time of national peril is not easily recognized by those who have only known its work in connection with the commercial development of the Nation. There is no question of the need of its work in safeguarding life and property at all times, but the fact that it is in a constant state of preparedness and available for instant efficient service in defense of the country is not so apparent. A perusal of the following pages should convince anyone that during the Civil War the officers of the service did their part on every occasion, when given an opportunity, in preserving the Union. The compilation could have been extended, but only a sufficient number of extracts have been used to show the scope of the work which the service is at all times ready to undertake in national defense. The testimony of distinguished military and naval leaders and others high in the councils of the Nation indicates the importance and value of the service rendered. It is a matter of record that the Superintendent declined to allow the corps to be merged into the Army and Navy, because he wished to preserve its efficient organization to continue the work of surveying the coast at the close of the war, and thus the officers failed to receive the recognition their hazardous duty deserved, which has been justly accorded to others for military service. It is worthy of note that several of the officers resigned to accept commissions in the Army, and that some of them returned to their. former positions in the service at the end of war.

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