The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-26
THE first war to hc completely
reported in the daily press was
= the conflict of 1876 and iSi7
which vas fought in tho valley

the conflict of 1916 ana 1917
which was fought in the valley
of the Rio Grande and am ny the
mountains Of the central part of Mexico
The first war correspondents Of the
modern type were George wilkins Ken
dali and the other American newspaper
men who rode with Zachary Taylor and
Winfield Scott seventy 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 CORE
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 Thaddcus Delanc that when
Russell was sent to the Crimca the
Idea of having "A special correspondent
with the army moving with the troops
and describing in detail every action
and incident Of the camp was an en-
tirely new feature in journalism" is not
quite accurate, for precisely that thing
war between the United States and
Mexico In America the fact has been
almost forgotten, and in England 1t has
never perhaps been known.
The few writers who have had occa-
sion to refer Cursorily to the develop
ment of the art Of war correspondence
have menti ned the work done by
Crabbe Robinson in 1907 and lSOS. and
referred to the mission of Charles Lewis
Gruneisen to Spain in 1887, and then
they have leaped to Russell and the
Crimean letters Of 1854 and the follow
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 Carist campaign. he. was
attached to the headquarters of Don
Carlos and ne saw fighting, but the
days of strenuous eXertiOn to get the
news home had not yet arrived, and
there was no competitive struggle to be
first in London with dispatches from
the field
Gruneisen was the first definitely
commissioned war reporter, but it was
not until the United States went to war
with Mexico in 1916 that newspaper men
began to show, in a land destitute of
the railway and the telegraph. the same
qualities of resourcefulness and enter
prise in obtaining the news and getting
-.
that Archibald Forbes displayed in
Franc" in 1870. Kendall and his fellow
workers organized a courier service
very similar to that used by MacGahan,
Millet and Forbes in the Russo-Turkish
war thirty years later, and by the
occasional employment of special steam
ships fitted up as composing rooms with
type cases and compositors these re
porters Of seventy years ago scored
their scoops and outspcd the Govern
ment despatch bearers.
The style %. some Of the dispatches
sent out from the camps OF Scott and
Taylor glitters with gewgaws, and IN
some there is palpablc intention to Nat
ter certain commanders. Few Of .hesc
reporters were competent military crit
les. Their letters are IN the main Il
chronicle of thrilling achievements by
"our gallant troops" But the scream
OF the eagle was heard from every stump
in every political campa gn in those
days and these dispatches, written from
the front for the first time IN newspaper
history and hurried with uneNamp.od
speed across 1000 miles Of sea ana land
partake of the characteristics Of the
Vme.