The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1905-11-09
CORRESPONDENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR
The Censor Was Unknown and the war
Reporter Almost Universally Trusted.

| CORRESPONDENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR
The Censor Was Unknown and the War
Reporter Almost Universally Trusted.
81 do not recall hearing the word
censor used in the Army of thu Po-
| tomac." said Major S. G. Brock, who
served on the stats of General Howell.
| General Foster and General Terry in
| the Civil War. "There were always a
! lot of correspondents around head
! quarters, but they were given absolute
| liberty of action. with one exception.
! There was an English writer with us
who sent his matter in to the London
| Times This gentleman seemed TO be
dissatisfied with the way the war was
conducted on the Union side. and sent
out some very exaggerated and unfair
reports. When his paper came over
| here these articles were copied by the
| American press, and fell into the hands
of the American commanders. Mr..
Euglishman was then courteously in
vited to move out, and he did so.
The American correspondents, how
| ever were almost universally trusted.
| have seen them come into the Gen
erals Office and voluntarily tender
their manuscript for inspection.
"'Thought I'd let you see how
handled that little affair" of yester-
day, General they would say. I'D
take it as a favor if you'd correct any
misstatement of facts
when secret movement was in
progress there was no need to caution
the boys of the press. They were
patriotic and appreciated the value of
discretion as highly as the soldiers
There were no yellow journals in those
days, and while the correspondents
were as ready and anxious to print
the news as reporters are now, they
were not given to exaggeration and
high-sounding phrases. The bald truth
was vivid enough. The correspondents
contracted the soldier habit of direct,
terse language. That was just what
the people of America wanted. The
public mind was so wrought up that
so-called fine writing or an attempt
to make bad worse for the sake of
sensationalism would not have been
tolerated.
"The soldiers liked the correspond
ents. From their work in the papers
they first learned of the results of the
moves they had been engaged in. The
soldier who bore the brunt of the firing
line was often ignorant of what his
courage had accomplished until he read
about 1t in the papers. You see, the
front was often ten miles long, and
there was no means of knowing what
was going on all along it except as
gathered from the press reports. Of
course, the correspondents rode up and
down the line, interviewed the COM
manders. viewed the field from all DO
sitions, and obtained information i'm
possible to the soldier. l have seen
a particularly patriotic newspaper man
become so enthused over a battle that
he would seize musket and take
hand in the scrimmage. That sort of
man, you could we'll imagine,
wouldn't need press censor.
1T was the respect engendered by
these intelligent press workers of the
Cos that led me into newspaper work
at the close of the war. / don't know
what sort of things would happen now
adays if the United States should be
drawn into great war. but | fear
these new varieties of self-righteous
journals that have since grown up in
the large cities of the East would
hardly send to the front the same
stamp of correspondents that shared
trouble with the Army of the Po-
tomac,"-Macon MOI Correspondence
Kansas City Star.