Part 40 (1/2)
During the conflict between France and England on the one hand, and Russia on the other, the journals of London and Paris sent their representatives to the Crimea. The London _Times,_ the foremost paper of Europe, gave Russell a reputation he will long retain. The ”Thunderer's” letters from the camp before Sebastopol became known throughout the civilized world. A few years later, the East Indian rebellion once more called the London specials to the field. In giving the history of the campaigns in India, _The Times_ and its representative overshadowed all the rest.
Just before the commencement of hostilities in the late Rebellion, the leading journals of New York were well represented in the South. Each day these papers gave their readers full details of all important events that transpired in the South. The correspondents that witnessed the firing of the Southern heart had many adventures. Some of them narrowly escaped with their lives.
At Richmond, a crowd visited the Spottswood House, with the avowed intention of hanging a _Herald_ correspondent, who managed to escape through a back door of the building. A representative of _The Tribune_ was summoned before the authorities at Charleston, on the charge of being a Federal spy. He was cleared of the charge, but advised to proceed North as early as possible. When he departed, Governor Pickens requested him, as a particular favor, to ascertain the name of _The Tribune_ correspondent, on arrival in New York, and inform him by letter. He promised to do so. On reaching the North, he kindly told Governor Pickens who _The Tribune_ correspondent was.
A _Times_ correspondent, pa.s.sing through Harper's Ferry, found himself in the hands of ”the Chivalry,” who proposed to hang him on the general charge of being an Abolitionist. He was finally released without injury, but at one time the chances of his escape were small.
The New Orleans correspondent of _The Tribune_ came North on the last pa.s.senger-train from Richmond to Aquia Creek. One of _The Herald's_ representatives was thrown into prison by Jeff. Davis, but released through the influence of Pope Walker, the Rebel Secretary of War.
Another remained in the South until all regular communication was cut off. He reached the North in safety by the line of the ”underground railway.”
When the Rebellion was fairly inaugurated, the various points of interest were at once visited by the correspondents of the press.
Wherever our armies operated, the princ.i.p.al dailies of New York and other cities were represented. Was.h.i.+ngton was the center of gravity around which the Eastern correspondents revolved. As the army advanced into Virginia, every movement was carefully chronicled. The compet.i.tion between the different journals was very great.
In the West the field was broader, and the compet.i.tion, though active, was less bitter than along the Potomac. In the early days, St.
Louis, Cairo, and Louisville were the princ.i.p.al Western points where correspondents were stationed. As our armies extended their operations, the journalists found their field of labor enlarged. St.
Louis lost its importance when the Rebels were driven from Missouri.
For a long time Cairo was the princ.i.p.al rendezvous of the journalists, but it became less noted as our armies pressed forward along the Mississippi.
Every war-correspondent has his story of experiences in the field.
Gathering the details of a battle in the midst of its dangers; sharing the privations of the camp and the fatigues of the march; riding with scouts, and visiting the skirmishers on the extreme front; journeying to the rear through regions infested by the enemy's cavalry, or running the gauntlet of Rebel batteries, his life was far from monotonous. Frequently the correspondents acted as volunteer aids to generals during engagements, and rendered important service. They often took the muskets of fallen soldiers and used them to advantage.
On the water, as on land, they sustained their reputation, and proved that the hand which wielded the pen was able to wield the sword. They contributed their proportion of killed, wounded, and captured to the casualties of the war. Some of them accepted commissions in the army and navy.
During the campaign of General Lyon in Missouri, the journalists who accompanied that army were in the habit of riding outside the lines to find comfortable quarters for the night. Frequently they went two or three miles ahead of the entire column, in order to make sure of a good dinner before the soldiers could overtake them. One night two of them slept at a house three miles from the road which the army was following. The inmates of the mansion were unaware of the vicinity of armed ”Yankees,” and entertained the strangers without question.
Though a dozen Rebel scouts called at the house before daylight, the correspondents were undisturbed. After that occasion they were more cautious in their movements.
In Kentucky, during the advance of Kirby Smith upon Cincinnati, the correspondents of _The Gazette_ and _The Commercial_ were captured by the advance-guard of Rebel cavalry. Their baggage, money, and watches became the property of their captors. The correspondents were released, and obliged to walk about eighty miles in an August sun. A short time later, Mr. Shanks and Mr. Westfall, correspondents of _The Herald,_ were made acquainted with John Morgan, in one of the raids of that famous guerrilla. The acquaintance resulted in a thorough depletion of the wardrobes of the captured gentlemen.
In Virginia, Mr. Cadwallader and Mr. Fitzpatrick, of _The Herald_, and Mr. Crounse, of _The Times_, were captured by Mosby, and liberated after a brief detention and a complete relief of every thing portable and valuable, down to their vests and pantaloons. Even their dispatches were taken from them and forwarded to Richmond. A portion of these reports found their way into the Richmond papers. Stonewall Jackson and Stuart were also fortunate enough to capture some of the representatives of the Press. At one time there were five correspondents of _The Herald_ in the hands of the Rebels. One of them, Mr. Anderson, was held more than a year. He was kept for ten days in an iron dungeon, where no ray of light could penetrate.
I have elsewhere alluded to the capture of Messrs. Richardson and Browne, of _The Tribune_, and Mr. Colburn, of _The World_, in front of Vicksburg. The story of the captivity and perilous escape of these representatives of _The Tribune_ reveals a patience, a fort.i.tude, a daring, and a fertility of resource not often excelled.
Some of the most graphic battle-accounts of the war were written very hastily. During the three days' battle at Gettysburg, _The Herald_ published each morning the details of the fighting of the previous day, down to the setting of the sun. This was accomplished by having a correspondent with each corps, and one at head-quarters to forward the accounts to the nearest telegraph office. At Antietam, _The Tribune_ correspondent viewed the battle by day, and then hurried from the field, writing the most of his account on a railway train. From Fort Donelson the correspondents of _The World_ and _The Tribune_ went to Cairo, on a hospital boat crowded with wounded. Their accounts were written amid dead and suffering men, but when published they bore little evidence of their hasty preparation.
I once wrote a portion of a letter at the end of a medium-sized table.
At the other end of the table a party of gamblers, with twenty or thirty spectators, were indulging in ”Chuck-a-Luck.” I have known dispatches to be written on horseback, but they were very brief, and utterly illegible to any except the writer. Much of the press correspondence during the war was written in railway cars and on steamboats, and much on camp-chests, stumps, or other subst.i.tutes for tables. I have seen a half-dozen correspondents busily engaged with their letters at the same moment, each of them resting his port-folio on his knee, or standing upright, with no support whatever. On one occasion a fellow-journalist a.s.sured me that the broad chest of a slumbering _confrere_ made an excellent table, the undulations caused by the sleeper's breathing being the only objectionable feature.
Sometimes a correspondent reached the end of a long ride so exhausted as to be unable to hold a pen for ten consecutive minutes. In such case a short-hand writer was employed, when accessible, to take down from rapid dictation the story of our victory or defeat.
Under all the disadvantages of time, place, and circ.u.mstances, of physical exhaustion and mental anxiety, it is greatly to the correspondents' credit that they wrote so well. Battle-accounts were frequently published that would be no mean comparison to the studied pen-pictures of the famous writers of this or any other age. They were extensively copied by the press of England and the Continent, and received high praise for their vivid portrayal of the battle-field and its scenes. Apart from the graphic accounts of great battles, they furnished materials from which the historians will write the enduring records of the war. With files of the New York dailies at his side, an industrious writer could compile a history of the Rebellion, complete in all its details.
It was a general complaint of the correspondents that their profession was never officially recognized so as to give them an established position in the army. They received pa.s.ses from head-quarters, and could generally go where they willed, but there were many officers who chose to throw petty but annoying restrictions around them. As they were generally situated throughout the army, they were, to some extent, dependent upon official courtesies. Of course, this dependence was injurious to free narration or criticism when any officer had conducted improperly.
If there is ever another occasion for the services of the war correspondent on our soil, it is to be hoped Congress will pa.s.s a law establis.h.i.+ng a position for the journalists, fixing their status in the field, surrounding them with all necessary restrictions, and authorizing them to purchase supplies and forage from the proper departments. During the Crimean war, the correspondents of the French and English papers had a recognized position, where they were subject to the same rules, and ent.i.tled to the same privileges, as the officers they accompanied. When Sir George Brown, at Eupatoria, forbade any officer appearing in public with unshaven chin, he made no distinction in favor of the members of the Press.
Notwithstanding their fierce compet.i.tion in serving the journals they represented, the correspondents with our army were generally on the most friendly terms with each other. Perhaps this was less the case in the East than in the West, where the rivalry was not so intense and continuous. In the armies in the Mississippi Valley, the representatives of competing journals frequently slept, ate, traveled, and smoked together, and not unfrequently drank from the same flask with equal relish. In the early days, ”Room 45,” in the St. Charles Hotel at Cairo, was the resort of all the correspondents at that point. There they laid aside their professional jealousies, and pa.s.sed their idle hours in efforts for mutual amus.e.m.e.nt. On some occasions the floor of the room would be covered, in the morning, with a confused ma.s.s of boots, hats, coats, and other articles of masculine wear, out of which the earliest riser would array himself in whatever suited his fancy, without the slightest regard to the owner.
”Forty-five” was the neutral ground where the correspondents planned campaigns for all the armies of the Union, arranged the downfall of the Rebellion, expressed their views of military measures and military men, exulted over successes, mourned over defeats, and toasted in full gla.s.ses the flag that our soldiers upheld.
Since the close of the war, many of the correspondents have taken positions in the offices of the journals they represented in the field. Some have established papers of their own in the South, and a few have retired to other civil pursuits. Some are making professional tours of the Southern States and recording the status of the people lately in rebellion. _The Herald_ has sent several of its _attaches_ to the European capitals, and promises to chronicle in detail the next great war in the Old World.