The record-union., 1896-09-27
War CORRESPONDENTS.
Men Who Wrote History in the Smoke Of
Battle.
Daring Deeds of Some of the Press
Representatives During the War
of the Rebellion.

oeen told. Faithful to the journals they
represented, untiring in the pursuit of
such news as the public required, and
sharing all the hardships and dangers
Oh campaign life, without military rank
or honors, they not infrequently played
the double part of soldier and civilian
With credit to themselves and the pro-
fesSiOn to which they belonged. They
witnessed every phase of the struggle
for the Union, from the secession Of
South Carolina to it's restoration, from
the fall of Sumter to the fall of Fort
Griffin at Sabine Pass, from the murder
of Ladd and Whitney by the mob at in
Baltimore on April 19, 1861, to the as
sassination of President Lincoln on
April Ii, 1865. They accompanied our
armies and fleets and accurately re-
corded the stirring feats Of arms and
the noble examples of va1or, patriotism
and self-devotion with which our brave
soldiers and sailors Illuminated the his
tory of the war. These war correspond
entS sought news as the brave soldier
sought glory-at the cannon's mouth.
No dangers daunted, no hardshipS dis
couraged them. They shared the perils,
the labOrs and the privations of the
army and navy, and will share for all
time in the glory of the victories they
chronicled.
At the outbreak of the war the lead
ing newspapers of New York, Pniladel-
phia, Boston, Baltimore and the WesS
placed corps of correspondents in the
field. They were paid large salaries,
besides being fitted out at the expense
OF their journals each with horse and
equipments, field glass, a waterproof
Sabretache, cot, blankets and bedding;
While those having charge of the sew
eral correspondents with single army
were provided with regular headquar-
ters, consisting of tents, mess chests,
cooking stoves, utensils, wine chest and
other furniture, besides the necessary
animals and wagons to transport the
material.
The instructions from the various
journals to their war correspondents
were brief, but comprehensive. They
We're simply these: To obtain the most
accurate information by personal OBJ
servation, and forward it with the ut
most dispatch, regardless of expense,
labor or danger. Correspondents were
told that to be beaten by any other
papers was crime; that to be up and
even with them was not particularly
worthy of commendation; but 20 beat
them was a success which would not go
unrewarded. These instructions the
correspondents found full enough and
their adventures ''by flood and field
would make a volume Of intense inter
est.
ITEMS OF EXPENSE.
Some of the items charged to war
correspondents are curious One New
York correspondent returned an item Of
800 paid to a military conductor on
a railroad in Tennessee to gain twenty
minutes lost time in order to make a
connection with a Louisville train at
Nashville" The consequence was that
an account Of the battles of Chatta-
nooga was published day earlier than
1t would have been If the S1O0 had not
been expended. One New York jour-
nails special account of the capture of
New Orleans, although filling but few
columns of a single issue of the paper,
cost 1t for the expenses alone of the
correspondent who accompanied Admi-
raj Farragut over 81, 700. Another cor
respondent returned one item of SO paid
for wild turkey, caught by a soldier, and
eaten by the correspondent during the
battle of Stone River" One hundred
and fifty dollars is an item for cost of
horse starved to death during the
siege of Chattanooga Another cor
respondent rode his horse to death from
the same battlefield. Several others re-
turn items for subscription to Richmond
papers, at the rate of 80 cents per copy,
delivered in Libby prison. There We're
items for presents to energetic scouts,
whose mouths were opened thereby.
Large sums were paid to obtain Confed-
crate newspapers. Every mode, direct
and indirect, that ingenuity could de-
wise appears to have been employed to
obtain news, and each correspondent
appears, by his generous expenditure of
his employers money TO have been pos
sessed Of liberality of soul truly ad-
mirable
DIAGRAMS OF MILITARY OPERA
TIONS.
These were not all the curious and
expensive items. When the war first
began the newspapers made arrange
ments 10 illustrate the operations,
marches and battles of our armies, and
the naval engagements of our navy, and
long before the close Of the war the
newspapers had reduced the system Of
producing war maps TO perfection. They
kept on hand large corps of engravers
to take the maps at a moments notice,
and they never failed to furnish an IL
lustration Of every important battle
ground The correspondents furnished
rough diagrams of the field, the posi-
tion of troops and locality of houses and
streams, which were rapidly transferred
to the wood and engraved by the en-
gravers A correspondent from the
Army of the Potomac usually reached
his New York office with correspondence
and maps at 8 o'clock on the second
night after starting. The diagrams
would be placed after that hour in the
hands of the engravers and finished
by the hour of closing the forms, about
/ o'clock the same night. One New
York papers item of expense for draw
ing and engraving maps during the war
amounted to nearly $4,000.
II may be interesting to note that be-
fore the close of the war Thomas w
Knox invented a system by which army
correspondents could forward their
maps, as they often did their CORE
spondence, by telegraph. By the use OF
this simpe invention correspondents on
the field could telegraph their journals
and have proudced for next days paper
a full diagram of the field, showing
roads, streams, houses, fields, woods
the position of troops by regiments and
the entire lines of battle of the contend
ing armies. We have preserved the
following list of army and navy CORE
spondents in the field during the war
nearly all of whom were constantly and
actively engaged in furnishing war news