Existing comment:
War Correspondents:
Advancing technology brought the rise of special correspondents, people on the scene who sent newspapers telegrams and letters with first-person accounts of events. At first, special correspondents were ordinary people, later they were paid for their contributions, eventually some became newspaper employees.
Beginning with the Mexican War (1846-48) and the Crimean War (1854-46), special correspondents went to battlefields to send back reports of the action and the troops' condition. With America's Civil War, war correspondents came of age. During the conflict, over 500 of them traveled with the army and reported the war. Most were young men in their twenties, but several were women and at least one was black.
Richard Cunningham McCormick, 1832-1901:
A war correspondent during the Crimean War, Richard Cunningham McCormick also reported the Civil War, following the Army of the Potomac in 1861 and 1862 as special correspondent for New York's Evening Post and Commercial Advertiser. In 1863, President Lincoln appointed him secretary of the Arizona Territory. He later served as the appointed Governor of the Territory and, for six years, as an elected Delegate to Congress.
The Newspapers:
By 1860, almost 2500 newspapers served a growing literate population. Almost 400 of these were published daily, with New York alone having 17 dailies.
Advancing technology transformed news reporting. Telegraph lines and railroads crisscrossed the country, bringing next-day coverage of far flung events. In addition to bringing news in, railroads also took newspapers out. Every day, copies of the New York Herald, Tribune, and Times were taken by train to Washington for same-day delivery.
Most papers had strong political affiliations. Some had been started by political parties; others supported the views of their publishers. The papers' articles often reflected these biases instead of presenting objective reports of events.
James Gordon Bennett (1844-1918), publisher of the New York Herald, an independent paper that supported conciliation to resolve the differences between North and South.
Horace Greeley (1811-1872), publisher of the New York Tribune, a radical Republican paper that supported the abolition of slavery
Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820-1869), publisher of the New York Times, a moderate Republican paper that supported the preservation of the Union |