The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-09-11
HE nrst war to be complete,

k NI Rio Grande and among the
mountains OF the central
part of Mexico. The first
war correspondents OF the modern
type were George Wilkins Kendall and
the other American newspaper men
who rode with Zachary Taylor and
Winfield Scott 60 years ago. These
facts have not heretofore been recog,
nized by students of the history OF
journalism.
Usually Sir William Howard Russell
is called the inventor of war corre-
spondence, and the first professional
reporter of wars he certainly was.
But what is said in the biography Of
the famous editor Of the London
Times John Thaddeus Delane, that
when Russell was sent TO the Crimea
the Idea Of having a special CORE
spondent with the army, moving with
the troops and describing in detail
every action and incident of the camp
was an entirely new feature in jour
nalism" is not quite accurate, for pre-
cisely that thing was done eight years
previously in the war between the
United States and Mexico. In Amer
lea the fact has been almost forgot
ten, and in England it has never per
haps been known.
The few writer's who have had occa-
sion to refer cursorily to the devel-
opment OF the art of war correspond
ence have mentioned the work done by
Crabbe Robinson, In 1907 and lsOS'
and referred to the mission Of Charles
Lewis Gruneisen to Spain in 1897 ana
then they have leaped to Russell ana
the Crimean letters in 1851 ana the
following years. Crabbe Robinson
made II no part of his business TO
see battle. Nine years before the
war between Mexico and the United
States began the Morning Post sent
Gruneisen to watch the Carlist cam
paign: he was attached to the mead
quarters of Don Carlos and he saw
fighting, but the days Of strenuous eA'
ertion TO get the news home had not
vet arrived, and there was no compet-
itive struggle to be first in London
with dispatches from the field.
Gruneison was the first definitely
commissioned war reporter, but 1t was
not until the United States went TO
war with Mexico in 1S46 that neWspa-
Der men began to show, in land des-
titute of the railway and the tele-
graph. the same qualities Of resource
fulness and enterprise in obtaining
the news and getting it over land
and sea to their papers that Archl-
bald Forbes displayed in france IN
1870. Kendall and his fellow work
ers organized a courier service very
similar to that used by MacGahan,
Millet and Forbes in the Russo-Eurk-
ish war 30 years later, and by the oc-
casioual employment Of special steam
ships fitted up as composing rooms
with tyne cases and compositors, these
reporters Of 10 years ago scored their
SCOOPS and outsped the government
dispatch bearers.
The style Of some Of the dispatches
sent out from the camps Of Scott and
Taylor glittered with gewgaws and IN
some there is palpable intention to
fatter certain commanders. Few Of
these reporters were competent mill
tarv critics. Their letters are in the
main a chronicle OF thrilling achieve
ments" by "our gallant troops"
When that new enterprise chal-
Ienged American Journalism new i'm
plemeut for the collection and distri-
button Of news was just coming into
use. over a wire 40 miles long, a
year and a half before the first shots
were fred, the telegraph had demon
strated its utility as bearer Of news.
AS the fighting began on the Rio
Grande only about 1,20O miles Of tele-
praph were In operation, and the wires
stretched almost entirely north from
the city Of Washington into the pop
ulous middle and eastern states.
The city Of New Orleans, near the
mouth Of the Mississippi, 1000 miles
from Washington, was the center for
the news Of the war. To the southern
metropolis the tidings we're brought
nv steamboat and sailing vessels from
point Isabel from Tampico and from
Vera Cruz. And to the ships the
news was brought by the daring cour-
iers, the express riders who had to
run the gauntlet of the guerrillas who
infested the dry plains Of northern
Mexico and the difficult mountain re-
gion between the capital and the city
OF Vera Cruz, whence Scott started on
his march inland
There was fierce rivalry among the
New Orleans papers to be the first
on .he street with the news which
the, couriers and the ships brought to
tie city. From New Orleans the news
was sent up the Mississippi river by
steam boat, but the most strenuous ex-
ertions we're made to send it on to
Washington in the shortest possible
time.
By steamboat and pony express the