Newspapers

Much of our knowledge and understanding of the Civil War comes from three primary sources: the Official Records of the governments and armies, correspondence and memoirs of participants, and the record left by journalists. The first two focus on battles, strategies, and personalities. The third—journalism—presents a time capsule, preserving the look and feel of life in America: not only descriptions of battles fought and political victories obtained, but also the price of gold in New York, of slaves in Charleston, and of cotton, ladies’ shoes, and whiskey ($40 a gallon) in Richmond; archaic language, like “letters” for reporters’ news dispatches, “the chivalry” for Southerners (so-called by Northern writers), and “Bohemian Brigade” for the war correspondents’ self-assigned nickname.