New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-26
WAR CORRESPONDENTS.
And Hoo They Did Their JVor1, j.,
Former Vars
o the Editor OF The Tribun.


surviving correspondents OF the C,,,,,, NJ.
though evidently from the pen OF +. 80 80
familiar with the present conditions +bo -
those o. the past warlike periods such as nra
vailed in our Civil War, the Franco-r+s,tar
Aus1rlah =" ar uhe Prussian-Austrian conflict
and the Franco-Gernan War OF 1S7O-'71. Con
dtions olUered IN some measure in all these
conflicts, and all differed from thosa n-a,.aIe-.
II the JAPANESE Russian struggle now goin, -,
The differences affecting the 1ourna,,.+ -
brought about from period to period chiefly, -.
the telegraph in its several DEVELOPMENTS oP lar,
lines, cables and wireless communications T.
concluding that the correspondent in the Far
East VIII be restricted as now 10 the end Of the
war. the editorial writer is doubtless oo-.,. :.
is natural that both nations should snnly srao+
RESTRICTIONS 10 the correspondents OF foreign
newspapers ana there appears TO be mona
others, or at any rate few REPRESENTATIVE -
either japanese or Russian JOURNALS in the field.
Such restrictions were enforced IN orr Civil
War not only on corresponden-s % ,ooi
papers, but for year or more on those ne -.
few American papers which maintained their
numerous correspondents IN the several fields ~
action. Bull Run" Russell OF The London
Times, as we facetiously called him. found
these restraints harassing that he abap-
doneG the field shortly after the arst hattie o4
Bull Run. Henry Willard was early Informed
by General Don Carlos Buell. that If he or his
associate correspondents Of The Herald" n,,b
lshed the plan OF campaign against Nashville
which he had submitted 70 General Mcclellan
and which General Grant subsequently, ca--f.d
out, both would be treated as spies. sub
sequently General Sherman. learning that VII
laro was endeavoring 10 get through the lines
avowedly 70 establish Herald" bureau in the
South gave him gentle hint that II caught in
the act he would be shot or hanged. whereupon
Willard left Sherman's department ana mo-
claimed, through The Cincinnati Commercial
thar sherman was insane. After the first vic
tory OF the Union troops at Mi Springs. XIV.
General George H. Thomas sent for The Her
aid" correspondent who about to leave
Somerset ky. then Thomas's headquarters. for
Louisville TO join Buelrs forces at MunfordEtlle
and warned him not 10 publish that his
Thomas's) division. instead OF pursuing Zolli-
Golfers beaten army. marching as rapidly as
possible 20 Join the rest Of BueIrs army from
which il had been detached 70 strike az Mil
Springs, and told him that violation OF the or
der would be regarded very seriously" 7 was
the correspondent and know this 70 be fact
During the siege OF Corinth. Miss, General
Halleck ordered al the newspaper correspond
ents out OF his camp ana department About
forty Of u.s. happened TO be there-went IN a
BODY 10 Hallecks headquarters 10 demonstrate.
Whitelaw Reid, Agate" OF The Cincinnati Ga
zette," who had written the first published full
report Of the battle Of Shiloh or Pittsburg Land
ing, was selected as spokesman, and made an
address on the claims Of the people TO know
through their home journals something about
what their soldiers were doing at the front,
which, according TO one OF HaIlecks staff, made
considerable impression his dull. stolid and
stupid intellect; but he insisted that all should
GO north OF the Ohio River" But so did Hal
leck go a short time after, when Grant was hap
PLY restoI ed 10 command General Sherman
did actually exile Thomas ". Knox, & Herald"
correspondent. from his lines. but President
Lincoln resciEded the order. IN 1864 Sherman
rescinded order OF his immediate superior,
General Grant, giving pass and transportation
IN al parts Of the Department OF the Missis-
sippL But General Grant issued another 10 the
same correspondent good in all the armies OF the
United States. was the correspondent. and
know
There was also a rigid censorship maintained
during the Civil War. no dispatch being permit
TED 10 be sent without inspection at headquar-
tiers and additional supervision al the receiv-
ing statioa- have stan an original dispatch n
which q single word which escaped the censor
with the army was erased as contraband by the
receiving censor. do not know why 7 saved it;
II was uuimp0rtanr. I have thrown away many
more important documents OF the Civil War
period But / notice In The Tribune OF June -
dispatch from Japanese Headquarters IN the
Field VIA Seoul, June 90" IN which the news
paper correspondents complain, among other
things, of the censorship Of kilograms at Seoul
and al Nagasah which the headquarters cen
sor had already approved In the same issue Of
The Tribune telegraphic report from Hector
Fuller, Of The Indianapolis News" who had
been H. Port Arthur, but had been deported
shows that the Russians quite careful
IN their censorship Of the dispatches OF those
crazy American" correspondents.
But In the days Of 81 and 50 the telegraph
was little used. except by The Associated Press
and very brief dispatches were permitted re-
garding even the most important events Ny
two dispatches about the two days battle at
Chickanaauga 70 The Associated Press would
not nj half d column OF the papers OF to-day
The mails and the express companies were used
ordinarily: but after each great battle the cor
respondents were accustomed TO start promptly
FOR their home Offices, writing they travelled
This course was adopted primarily to avoid a
rule Of the New-York Associated Press papers
that any special dispatch from any other points
than Albany and Washington any specials
descriptive Of any other events than a prizeight
or public execution should be the common prop
erty Of all the seven papers then constituting
The Associated Press Imagine such rule now!
But this rule prevailed until the Prussian-Aus-
TRAN War. when James Gordon Bennett the
first. refused 10 comply with II unless the ex-
pense OF collecting the news. well as trans
hitting II by cable. was also divided among the
rn0n EACTc