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Bohemian Brigade; Civil War Newsmen in Action

Starr, Louis Morris. Bohemian Brigade; Civil War Newsmen in Action. New York: Knopf, 1954.
Type: 
book
Genre: 
history
Abstract: 

This book tells the story of a group of Civil War journalists referred to as "the Bohemian Brigade." They have a tangiential relationship to the Pfaff's bohemians and include such one-time Pfaffians as Edmund Clarence Stedman and William Swinton. Starr's book begins with a lively description of a scene in "Pfaff's Cave" on the eve of the Civil War.

A more recent telling of the story of the Bohemian Brigade can be found in James M. Perry's A Bohemian Brigade: The Civil War Correspondents--Mostly Rough, Sometimes Ready (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000), which does not mention the Pfaff's bohemians.

People who Created this Work

Nast, Thomas illustrator

Nast's "The Press on the Field" from Harper's Weekly, April 30, 1864, is included among the illustrations provided by Starr (Plate III).

People Mentioned in this Work

Aldrich, Thomas [pages:4,7,9,357]

Of the scene at Pfaff's, Starr writes: "If New York was not dancing on Doomsday, the Cave at 653 Broadway belied it." For one supporting example, Starr quotes Aldrich from Vanity Fair: "We were all very merry at Pfaff's" (4).

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian afforded license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr mentions that Aldrich (according to Starr,of the Tribune) and O'Brien ("known, for cause, at Pfaff's as 'Fists Gammon O'Bouncer'") "experimented at 'sleeping all day and living all night'"(7).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertently of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Aldrich briefly worked as a war correspondent for the Tribune. Starr also writes that like his friend Stedman, Aldrich "looked back with incredulity at his Bohemian days at Pfaff's" (357).

Arnold, George [pages:8]

Starr mentions that the impending Civil War caused tempers to flare among the exited crowd at Pfaff's. George Arnold wrote a series of "burlesques of war correspondence" by "McAroni" that were featured in Vanity Fair. In these pieces, Arnold "posed as one of 'the chivalry' defending the Southern Cause." This position would prompt an argument wiht Walt Whitman (8).

Bellew, Frank [pages:9,204,210]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

The Tribune staff recieved information that Lee's army was moving north to Pennsylvania (leading to the Battle of Gettysburg), but they were short-staffed and needed to "enlist" others to help cover the Southern army's movements. Bellew, who usually drew for the New York Illustrated News during the war, offered to help. Starr writes, however, that Bellew "unfortunately...had saddle boils and was of small use" (204). Starr places Bellew among the "Tribune men": Sypher, Grey, Newbould, Bellew, Shepherd, and Byington, who were covering the war when "Meade's forces took up positions they would make historic--Culp's Hill, Cemetary Ridge, Round Top--that beautiful second day of July." Starr also claims that "there were plenty of Bohemians on hand to record it" (210).

Church, William [pages:9,109,110,266,357]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex." (9)
Church, of the Times, sometimes known as "Pierrepont," twenty-six, produced a "notable" account of the battle at Fair Oaks. Starr writes, "though shot in the leg by a spent ball, [Church] produced an account to make Charle Pfaff proud of him." Church's account of the battle would fill the front page of the June 3, 1862 issue to the Times (109). Church was joined in Virginia, near McClellan's army, by the "alert, immaculate little Henry J. Raymond." The rest of the "Times crew" included Franc Wilkie, Whittemore, Travis, "Argus," and others (110).

Starr mentions Church as one of the "Bohemian Brigade," a group of reporters who "were men of energy, style, and perception. If they lacked the magic touch, all of them wrote well enough to bring a sense of participation in the war to their readers, and at times they did it superbly. Through the reprint circuit the work of each, in varying degree, elevated standards of reporting the country over" (266).

Church founded the Army and Navy Journal (357).

Clapp, Henry [pages:4,7,31,62]

According to Starr, "Regularly toward nightfall, Pfaff escorted any unwary patrons who were sitting in the vault to some other part of his restaurant, Henry Clapp, Jr., took his seat at the head of the table, the initiates appeared, and presently, in Whitman's words, 'there was as good talk around that table as took place anywhere in the world'" (4). Starr writes that it had been about five years since "the bright-eyed, witty Clapp" had returned from Paris, where he had become "infatuated" with Henri Murger's Scenes de la Vie de Boheme and "set himself up here as 'the King of Bohemia.'" Starr continues, "No one, to judge from substantial evidence, was quite sure what Bohemia was all about, but the movement, if anything, was stronger than ever. 'The New Theory of Bohemia' was warmly discussed in the current Knickerbocker, and the New York Illustrated News of February 23, 1861, had a starry-eye piece on the Pfaffians -- 'free-thinkers and free-lovers, and jolly companions well met, who make symposia, which for wit, for frolic, and now and then for real intellectual brilliance, are not to be found in any house within the golden circles of Fifth Avenue'" (4).

As an example of his claim that "The wit and frolic, at least, were beyond cavil," Starr cites the following exchange: "Charles F. Browne ('Artemus Ward') read a telegram from a California lecture bureau: 'What will you take for forty nights?' Clapp sang out: 'Brandy and soda, tell them,' an answer that endeared Browne to the West Coast" (4).

Clapp and Bohemianism were attractive to antebellum reporters, Starr claims: "So it was that, as 'tails' of a coinage stamped withteh names of the great opinion-makers, reporters in the metropolis of journalism were of sufficiently low estate to find in Clapp's Bohemia a certain rationale, and tehy embraced it with such fervor that the term 'Bohemian' would cling to them long after Clapp and his movement were forgotten" (7).

Of the advances made by several papers in their printing processes, Clapp said: "The daily papers have taken to boasting that everything they print is stereotyped; we thought this fact had been patent from the beginning" (31).

Clare, Ada [pages:5]

Starr claims that one of the attractions of Pfaff's for newspaper reporters and artists for the weeklies was the opportunity to "pay homage to the 'Queen of Bohemia,' Ada Clare (5). Whitman called Clare "the new Woman," and had recently returned from a trip to Paris "aboard a steamer which bore the entry on its passenger list: Miss Ada Clare, and son." Starr quotes Clare's response: "'A Bohemian is not, like the creature of society, a victim of rules and customs,' she explained with candescent charm, 'he steps over them all with an easy, graceful, joyous unconsciousness'" (5).

Congdon, Charles [pages:18,19,96,133-134]

Mentions Congdon's abolitionist writings (18).

"The witty Congdon" did his part "penning editorials in his book-lined study in Quincy, Massachusetts" (18).

Of the mystique surrounding Greeley and the Tribune among devoted followers of the paper around 1861, Congdon remarked upon the popular impression that Greeley edited every word that was printed in the paper, "including shipping news" (18).

Starr quotes Congdon as refering to Charles A. Dana as "the Prince Regent" at the Tribune (19). Starr suggests that Congdon and other members of the Tribune staff sensed Greeley's jealousy at Dana's control of the paper and closeness with key figures in the war, like General McClellan (96). Starr also remarks that the improvement the in editorial quality of the Tribune under Gay made Congdon, "the brilliant, bibulous editorial contributor" "ready to forget Dana." He wrote: "You must know that the Tribune in my opinion never was a better paper. It is due to you to say this" (133-134).

Curtis, George [pages:235]

Starr writes that Curtis, editor of Harper's Weekly, suggested privately during the attacks on the Tribune by the Herald "that Gay issue 'an edict that the existance of the Herald shall never be recognized in or by the Tribune in any way.'" He also proposed that Gay "let the worthy old Scot [Hudson] lie and rave as much as he likes...There are some animals that...cannot be touched or fought, for even if you hit and kill them they make you smell dreadfully" (235).

de Gurowski, Adam [pages:75]

During the prominence of Henry Wikoff in Northern politics several years after a scandal over his marriage, Gurowski noted in his diary: "Wyckoff is, so to speak, an intimate of Seward's house and office" (75).

Emerson, Ralph [pages:17-18,40,139]

Starr quotes Emerson's description of Greeley: "His entrance into a tavern, much more into a lecture hall, raises gratulating shouts...and I could scarcely keep the people quiet to hear my abstractions they were so furious to should Greeley! Greeley! Greeley! Catch me carrying Greeley into my lecture again!...I had as lief travel with Barnum" (17-18).

Starr writes that during the debates over the "right to report," there was still uneasiness over the presence of reporters. "As late as 1859, Emerson was perturbed by the thought of reporters attending his lectures" (40).

Starr lists Emerson as one of Smalley's friends (139).

Fiske, Stephen [pages:25-26]

Fiske was one of the three men in Hudson's [of the Herald] Washington bureau in 1861. Fiske was twenty and accompanied President Lincoln on the last leg of his trip to Washington. Fiske was locked in a hotel room in Harrisburg the night Lincoln "made his most famous secret departure fo avert foul play in Baltimore." Fiske was also sent by Simon P. Hanscom, the bureau chief, to cover the inaugural ball. When Fiske shook hands with Lincoln, he asked the President "if there was any special news he would like to send to Mr. Bennett. Fiske recalled that Lincoln responded: "'Yes,' he replied, looking at me significantly, 'you may tell him that Thurlow Weed has found out that Seward was not nominated at Chicago'" (25-26).

Greeley, Horace [pages:vii,viii,4,6,8,11,14,15,17-19,32-33,34-35,52-55,69,70,71n,77,96-97,99,100,104,116,117-118,124-125,127,128,129,157,159,166,169,195,196]

Starr claims that the history of journalism tends to be slanted towards examining the editorial process; Starr claims "we have more studies of Horace Greeley than of all the newsmen in his century" (vii). Starr also writes that Greeley's New York Tribune is an "archetype among newspapers of the day," and uses this paper to help focus the narrative of his history (viii).

Clapp's opinion of Greeley was as follows: "He is a self-made man who worships his creator" (4).

Of the increasing pace of the news and the press' emphasis on opinions rather than facts, Starr notes that Greeley realized that "the paper that brings the quickest news is the thing looked to." Starr also notes that the emphasis on editorial commentary helped to contribute to Greeley's fame (6).

Southern postmasters refused to deliver the Tribune and sedition laws were passed against the paper in Texas because of the letters from Charleston that were printed in the paper. In one instance, a Georgia editor invited Greeley to visit "the land you have lied and re-lied on" in a poem that ended:
"You can lower your chin, and open your mouth,
While your neck strains the rope you are tied on" (8).

Starr refers to Greeley, Raymond and Bennett as "those titans of newspaperdom" and notes that their offices were all located in a small area of New York near City Hall Park. Theirs were the "only eight-page dailies in the United States" and were vital news sources for the country (11).

Starr writes that visitors came to the Tribune offices "daily, during the afternoon visiting hours, hoping for a glimpse of Greeley's fabled white coat." Starr recounts the visit of Albert Deane Richardson during this time period and notes that although many came to catch a glimpse of Greeley, Richardson was unable to see him as Greeley was on a lecture tour and Dana often managed visitors and office business (14). According to Starr, Dana was "Blunt, decisive, by turns profane and charming, a Brook Farm idealist annealing into a man of the world after years of exposure to Greeley's irascible ways and the bitter disillusionment of a trip to Europe during the revolutions of 1848, he ran the paper with an iron hand. On more than one occasion he had thrown out Greeley's abstractions from Washington to make way for news -- once for a divorce story. It was the talk down in Pfaff's that he edited Greeley's editorials as well, and the Sunday Mercury hinted that he had been known to veto them" (15).

Of Greeley's fame, Starr writes: "Already the myth of Horace Greeley, the moralist in shining armor, the poor Vermont boy with a hatful of type who had worked hard and lived right and made good, the homely philosopher, the eccentric personality, the national oracle, towered almost frighteningly over the man himself. 'His entrance into a tavern, much more into a lecture hall, raises gratulating shouts,' Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, 'and I could scarcely keep the people quiet to hear my abstractions, they were so furious to shout Greeley! Greeley! Greeley! Catch me carrying Greeley into my lecture again!...I had as lief travel with...Barnum" (17-18). Part of Greeley's fame was the uniqueness of the Tribune, as "the paper seemed to suggest that its readers were as sophisticated as its editors, and that they shared the world between them." In addition, "Backed by Greeley's willingness to give battle for a cause, his broad humanitarianism, and his remarkable talent for getting himself on newsprint, the paper's fighting qualities kindled something like personal devotion. The Tribune was scarcely a newspaper in 1861; it was an article of faith" (17). Starr also notes that during the height of the Tribune's popularity, "people thought Greeley still edited the Tribune, and every word that went into it -- 'including shipping news,' Charles Congdon added wryly. But the Tribune, with 212 employees, including twenty-eight editors and reporters in 1861, was no more pure Greeley than was the myth he had become" (18). According to Starr, Greeley had the talent of attracting talented writers to the Rookery to cover for his own personal shortcomings; at the Rookery, Greeley "created an atmosphere in which they thrived; yet, in a sense, he was their prisoner." According to Starr, the staff of the paper kept the Tribune committed to anti-slavery while Greeley's own stance wavered and he sometimes feared what the editorials would say (18).

According to Starr, at the Tribune "Their [the staff's] loyalty was not to Greeley's politics, but to his idea of journalism...Such men gave superb implementation to Greeley's credo: that the newspaper must provide American society with leadership -- moral, political, artistic, and intellectual leadership -- before anything else" (19). Sensing changes in the newspaper industry, Greeley moved out of the office he shared with Dana in 1854 and moved to a more remote portion of the building, leaving Dana in "practical command" (19).

As the press sped up and "the leisurely days when one might edit with an eye for literary niceties and philosophical disputation were gone," Starr asks "How would the Tribune fare in this era?" He claims that the paper did not change much, with "Greeley and Dana serenely running news inside and advertising out; the most exciting paper in politics seemed to be the most conservative in journalism. There was another sign, more momentous, that the Tribune would go right no being the Tribune, come what may." This event was the loss of the Tribune's Washington correspondent, Pike, to the foreign service. Greeley sent Dana to Washington to hire a replacement and hired Fitz Henry Warren. Despite his loud nature and commanding presence, "Warren appeared to fit Greeley's bill of particulars" in his involvement in politics and anti-slavery stance and his past newspaper writing career (32-33).

In discussing the Tribune's error in its "On to Richmond" campaign, Starr defends the logic of the failed strategy but discusses the repercussions for Greeley and the paper. According to Starr, "Now Horace Greeley was a broken man. He took to his bed with an attack of 'brain fever,' visions of death flitting before him. He wrote to Lincoln: 'This is my seventh sleepless night.' He would 'second any movement you may see fit to make,' but he despaired of the Union cause. Dana loosed a thunderclap in his absence, an editorial demanding the resignation of the entire Cabinet. Agonized, Greeley publicly repudiated it. Fitz Henry Warren's letter of resignation, assuming the burden of responsibility for 'On to Richmond,' he quite properly refused to print. Rallying to one of his finer moments, Greeley wrote an editorial titled 'Just Once,' acknowledging his responsibility for what appeared in his paper, offering himself as a national scapegoat, coming to grips with what was the real 'great error' of the Tribune in a paragraph that read:

Henceforth I bar all criticism in these columns on Army movements, past or future...Correspondents and reporters may state fact, but must forebear comments.

According to Starr, Greeley made sure that his Washington correspondent Sam Wilkeson was sure that he was serious about this point, insisting that he wanted distance between news and opinion: "I want a man at Washington to find out all that is going on or preparing and calmly report it, writing Editorials separately, to be submitted to criticism and revision here, instead of embodying them in dispatches..." According to Starr, "Objectivity was a principle all but unknown to journalism, but if the results of Greeley's change of heart were difficult to discern in Tribune dispatches, the seed had been planted" (52-53). The error in the "On to Richmond" campaign caused the circulation of the paper to drop significantly, and Greeley was remarked negatively upon as "General Horace." While the paper still had the largest circulation, the Sunday edition was discontinued and the paper's influence was weakened (54-55). According to Starr, Dana, not Greeley, was primarily responsible for beginning the "On to Richmond" campaign, as Greeley was not in the office when Dana ran Warren's piece that called for the Union army to advance (34-35).

In one of Dr. Malcolm Ives's editorials in the Herald the "ultra Pro-Slavery Democrat, and, at the same time, a professed believer in the divinity of monarchical institutions," had "called for the arrest and imprisonment of Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, and Greeley" (77).

According to Starr, at the Rookery (the Tribune office), one could seen "men wading through a sea of exchanges -- hundreds of dailies and weeklies sent by editors in hope that something would strike Mr. Greeley's fancy, and because they, in turn, must see the Tribune" (117).

According to Starr, when Gay took over for Dana at the Tribune, he had "inherited all of Dana's authority, and more. Greeley might cavil and carp, but he knew well enough that his managing editor must command unless he himself were to give up his lecturing, his far-flung correspondence, and his leader-writing for a job for which he had very little taste or judgment. It was enough for him that Horace Greeley and the New York Tribune remain indistinguishable int he public mind." Greeley told James R> Gilmore in the winter of 1862 that he had "relinquished control." Gilmore had never written for the paper in fear of Greeley's editing; Greeley replied, "But I have not resigned the blue pencil...You would not report to me but to Gay; and he is of your way of thinking." From then on, Greeley was only responsible for the editorials he wrote (117-118).

In a discussion of the preference of editors to keep the identities of their war correspondents anonymous or under the cover of a pen name, Starr writes about the different choice of editors. Some writers were allowed men names or initials, while editors like Bennet insisted on anonymity. Some writers, however, were allowed to identify themselves, as Starr quotes Sam Wilkeson's explanation of the "prevailing view" to Gay: "The anonymous greatly favors freedom and boldness in newspaper correspondence. I would not allow any letter writer to attach his initials to his communications, unless he was a widely known & influential man like Greeley or Bayard Taylor...Besides the responsibility it fastens on a correspondent, the signature inevitably detracts from the powerful impersonality of a journal" (195).

Starr notes that during the rivalry between the Herald and the Tribune the "poor, ragged Greeley" was often attacked, and despite council to ignore the jabs, could not always ignore the Herald (235).

Starr notes that Lincoln sought Greeley's and the Tribune's support: "having Greeley 'firmly behind me,' he wrote once, 'will be as helpful to me as an army of one hundred thousand men.'" According to Starr, Greeley "held aloof" (127), though he writes later that Greeley and other writers attempted to force Lincoln's hand (129). Under pressure from the intermediary James Gilmore who reported that Greeley was growing impatient, Lincoln would issue a proclamation in 1862 on slavery (127). Lincoln would later arrange for Greeley and the Tribune to receive insider information via Gilmore and Robert J. Walker in exchange for Greeley's public support; Starr notes that "The scheme bore little fruit for either party, and existed only briefly" (159).

Greeley attempted to persuade Villiard to soften his report of the battle at Fredericksburg, as "Greeley refused to let the Tribune assume sole responsibility for the dreadful news...but Monday morning's Tribune would carry the first authentic details of the most terrible repulse of the war" (166). After this battle, Greeley began to seriously discuss the idea of foreign mediation; this proved to be a controversial position for some, prompting Wilkeson to quit the Tribune (169, 196). Evidently Greeley's position also worried Gay, for who, according to Starr, "The constant threat of Greeley's insisting again on plumping for a negotiated peace haunted him"; Gay's job during this period was largely to "counteract" Greeley (289).

During the draft riots (July 13, 1863) that occurred in response to the conscription laws and tensions between runaway slaves and immigrant workers in New York, cries of "Tribune office to be burned tonight!" and "We'll hang Horace Greeley to a sour apple tree!" were heard (221). The mob marched to the Tribune offices that evening, where they yelled for the demise of the paper and Greeley. Greeley was in a meeting with Theodore Tilton of the Independent and informed of what was going on outside. Greeley agreed with Gay that the offices should be armed, but did not want arms brought into the building. Greeley also chose to remain in New York rather than fleeing the city for his safety; Greeley and Tilton had an dinner engagement that Greeley wished to honor. As the two men left the Tribune building, they passed through the mob untouched (222). The violence against the newspaper's offices, continued, however, with a mob of more than two thousand gathered outside; at about seven that evening, the mob began throwing pavement stones and breaking the windows of the building. The mob entered the counting-room, where they broke the furniture and began a fire that the Tribune staff fought to put out. Tom Rooker and the building engineer were positioned in the press room, ready to puncture the boilers and spray the rioters with hot water and steam. One hundred and ten police men arrived to fight the crowd, which they did, killing some of the rioters. The mob was driven out of the Tribune offices, where "Gay helped clean up the wreckage and succor the wounded until the ambulances arrived. Feeling like a Parisian during the Terror, he saw the Tribune to press, on schedule. It is described as the first day of the most violent civic disturbance in American history" (223). The rioting continued the next day (July 14), and the fighting in the streets between the mob and the army and police was more violent. Gay stayed at the Tribune offices all night and ordered that the walls be lined with reams of wet newsprint to help lower the fire hazard. The regular business of the paper - reporting and editing - continued. Gilmore brought a wagonload of old muskets from Governor's Island to protect the building, making it an "arsenal" by the time Greeley arrived. When Greeley came to the offices, he ordered the guns be removed: "Take 'em away! Take 'em away! I don't want to kill anybody, and besides they're a lot more likely to go off and kill us" (223). Starr suggests that Greeley would have thought differently of matters had he not gone home before the previous night's raid and fight. Gay ignored Greeley's orders and instead wrote a letter to his wife (a Quaker) about their escape plan and the situation at the offices as the rioters congregated in front of the offices (223-224).

During Lincoln's re-election campaign, like the President, Greeley was nearly certain that he had lost the election (323). Greeley also privately supported Chase during the election (314). By September 6, 1854, however, Greeley abandoned his plan to nominate someone else, and, as public sentiment towards Lincoln increased, the Tribune publicly announced its support of the re-election of the President (326-327). Gay and Greeley predicted early that Lincoln had carried New York during his win (333).

Extra page numbers: 221-224, 235, 239, 266, 289, 291, 292, 312, 314, 323, 326-327, 333, 348-349.

Gunn, Thomas [pages:20-21,106-107]

Prior to the inauguration of Lincoln, Gunn, "an Englishman thoroughly grateful for his British accent," were "on the scene" in Charleston as reporters for the Tribune (20-21). Gunn and the other men Dana added to the Tribune's Charleston staff had to take special precautions as reporters for a Northern newspaper stationed in the South: they wore blue secession cockades on their lapels, wrote their reports in an elaborate code devised by Dana, and addressed their reports to New York banks and commercial houses who had agreed to work as fronts (21).

When Gay took over as managing editor of the Tribune, he relied on Gunn, who had done good work for the paper in Charleston before the war, D.J. Kinney, and three "hastily hired recruits" to deliver him speedy reports. During the Penninsular campaign, the Tribune was often beaten in reporting the news. Gay sent Gunn the following letter to "awaken" him:

I pray you remember that the Tribune is a daily newspaper - or meant to be - and not a historical record of past events. Correspondence to be of any value must be prompt, fresh, and full of facts. I know how difficult it is, under the censorship, to write, but there must be facts enough of general interest all about you to make a daily letter...I should like you to write daily, if only 1/2, 1/4 column, so that the report of all you may tell be continuous. The curiousity and anxiety about Yorktown is feverish, and the public like the paper best that is always giving something. If there is absolutely nothing to write about, drop me a line and tell me that. The Herald is constantly ahead of us with Yorktown news. The battle of the 16th were were compelled to copy from it. (106-107).

According to Starr, Gunn was using the letter as notepaper after the fall of Yorktown. Unfortunately, Gunn mislaid the paper. Shortly after, the Herald ran the following in the editorial columns:

One of our correspondents - who see everythign, hear everything, and find everything - fished this unique epistle out of a pile of rebel documents...We do not knoow the name of the Tribune reporter to whom it is addressed, but his notes in pencil are on the back of the original letter. (107)

The Herald ran Gay's letter in full (107). Gunn quickly wrote to Gay: "God knows how the Herald got hold of your letter to me...The Herald men here repudiate the thing, but many of them would pick pockets." Gunn also wrote that his horse had been stolen (107).

Halpine, Charles [pages:9,312]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

In early 1864, Halpine was one of a group of members of the press who were to "varying degrees" enthusiastic about the "Chase-for-President" movement (312).

Homer, Winslow [pages:111,254,254n,354]

Of the artists who depicted the Civil War for the newspapers and magazines of the time, Starr writes that "at twenty-six, Winslow Homer of Harper's Weekly had a penchant for depicting camp life exactly as he found it." Homer was one of several writers Harper's commissioned to cover the war (111).

Starr uses Homer's pay as an example of the treatment of artists and correspondents during the war: "Financially, artists were no better off than correspondents. Winslow Homer commanded the top rate from Harper's, sixty dollars for a double page spread" (254). According to a footnote, Homer worked intermittently at the front for about eight months (254).

Homer and Nast are described by Starr as the members of "the artists' contingent of the Bohemian brigade" who gained the "widest renown." According to Starr, "Homer's moody genius in oils and water color made him the pre-eminent American seascapist" (354).

House, Edward [pages:9,43-48,50,73]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

House, of the Tribune is mentioned as a member of a December dinner party led by Sam Wilkeson (also of the Tribune) who had a valuable reporting connection to the War Department through Cameron, who was present at the dinner. John W. Forney of the Philadelphia Press was also present (73).

General McDowell suggested that the reporters covering the war "had best stay out of the way by keeping together," prompting the correspondents to travel in a large group. Starr describes the group that rode through Virginia as "such a calvalcade as had never before been seen." House, "a dramatic critic and fixture af Pfaff's," with Adam S. Hall and William A. Croffut "ready to give their all for the Tribune (43). During a "preliminary skirmish" House was assited by Hill Stedman wrote to his wife that House had "one ball whiz by his ear, got frightened, falloped 22 miles to Washington, and there reported 500 killed, and that the press had fled the field." House was also with Stedman and Villard when Villard decided to climb a tree for some cherries "when a terrific roar burst out from the woods seemingly within a few steps of us" and he fell from the tree with a mouthful of cherries. Villard later wrote, "I can truly say the music of the bullet, ball and grapeshot never had much terror for me thereafter" (44).

Starr writes that during Bull Run, there is "ample ground for the observation that the men who write 'history on the run,' as some dramatists styled reporters, sometimes make it." Starr writes that House was "roused at one in the morning to join Tyler's advance in the moonlight" and he, Stedman, and others witnessed the "opening cannonade at sunrise" (45). Of the events of the late afternoon, Starr writes: "What happened next military historians still debate, but there is no question what happened to the newspapermen. They were engulfed in a wild panic among teamsters, spectators, and horses naer th Stone Bridge. From there, confusion billowed like smoke from the mouth of a cannon. 'A perfect frenzy was upon almost every man,' House wrote. 'Some cried piteously to be lifted behind those who rode horses, and others sought to clamber onto wagons, the occupants resisting them with bayonets...Drivers of heavy wagons dashed down the steep road, reckless of the lives they endangered all the way...Every impediment to flight was cast aside. Rifles, bayonets, pistols, haversacks, cartridge boxes, canteens, blankets, belts and overcoats lined the road.'" Russell attempted to stop the drivers from being reckless, while Stedman was seen attempting to rally the Massachusetts Fifth, waving their standard "in vain." The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter lost his horse and took off bareback on a Conferderate horse while Villard atempted to calm the men (46-47). House was among a group that arrived at Centerville to see if McDowell "would be able to check the retreat" and learned that McDowell had given up hope of making a stand and ordered a general retreat (47-48). When the reporters present were allowed to write their stories, Starr reports that "some accounts read like transcriptions of nightmares" while "reporters caught in the panic enormously exaggerated its significance." House wrote in the Tribune: "All was lost to the American army, even its honor...The agony of this overwhemling disgrace can never be expressed in words" (50).

Howells, William [pages:4-5,7]

In William Dean Howell's opinion, it was as good to be published in the Saturday Press as it was to be published in the Atlantic Monthly, since despite one critic's claim that "man cannot live by snapping turtle alone," Howells admitted, in response, that "the Press was very good snapping turtle" (4-5).

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian affored license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr quotes Howell's observations about the Bohemians on the night he visted Pfaff's: "[Howells} noted the arrival of a pair 'whom the others made a great clamor over; I was given to understand that they had just recovered from a fearful debauch'" (7).

Nasby, Petroleum [pages:333]

On the night of the 1864 election, as Lincoln awaited the returns, he read some of Nasby's work aloud (333).

Nast, Thomas [pages:3,9,209,354]

Starr writes that in March, 1861, Nast, a "familiar face" at Pfaff's Cave, was absent. Described by Starr as "the roly-poly fledgling of the New York Illustrated News, Nast was in Washington for Lincoln's inauguration (3).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

During Byington's "pilgrimage," during the fighting in Pennsylvania, other reporterse never got close enough to the battle to see the action. Nast got as close as Carlisle, thirty miles north of the action, where he "sketched the shelling of the New York militia by a detachment of Confederates with a single battery." Afterwards, Nast was imprisoned in Harrisburg for being related by marriage to a women seen around town wearing a Confederate flag (209).

Homer and Nast are described by Starr as the members of "the artists' contingent of the Bohemian brigade" who gained the "widest renown." Starr writes: "Nast was the volatile politcal cartoonist whose influence survives most obviously in the form of the Democratic donkey, the Republican elephant, and the Tammany tiger, all of which he made famous in Harper's Weekly" (354).

O'Brien, Fitz-James [pages:5,7,9,32]

Despite Starr's doubts that the Bohemians "resurrected" Poe for his artistic ability and more for his lifestyle, Starr does note that "Fitz-James O'Brien at his macabre best emulated Poe superbly" (5).

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian affored license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr mentions that Aldrich (according to Starr,of the Tribune) and O'Brien ("known, for cause, at Pfaff's as 'Fists Gammon O'Bouncer'") "experimented at 'sleeping all day and living all night'"(7). Starr continues on about O'Brien's "youthful exuberances," calling him "improvident to a fault" and citing an incident where O'Brien picketed the office of Harper's (the bindery/publisher) with a sign reading "I AM STARVING" after being refused a loan. The publishers eventually gave in (7).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Starr writes of the movements of the seventy-five thousand volunteers called for by Lincoln in the major Northern cities: "New York's beloved Seventh marched off amid pandemoneum on Broadway, Fitz-James O'Brien recording every step for the Tribune" (32).

Ottarson, Franklin [pages:222,293]

During the riots of July 13-14, 1863, Ottarson is described by Starr as "Gay's first lieutennant" on the Tribune staff. When the mob advanced on the office, he was sent to find a policeman to arrest the leader of the mob who was calling for the downfall of the Tribune. The policeman arrived and promptly vanished. The mob dispursed shortly but returned in twenty minutes with larger numbers and would later break into the paper's offices (222).

Gay suspected Ottarson, England, and Wilkeson alternately of angling for his job at the Tribune amid his fears of being replaced by Greeley (293).

Pfaff, Charles [pages:3-4,5,62,63,109,121,235,335]

In his opening at the crowded Pfaff's Cave in March 1861, Starr sets the scene: "Charles Ignatius Pfaff,fat and genial, presided at the bar; buxon Saxon girls fetched the succulent sweetbreads, German pancakes, oysters, and lager for which he was famous; and at the long table in the low-ceilinged inner vault, beneath the rumble and clatter of Broadway, the regulars lounged among the hogsheads in an atmosphere of pipe smoke and laugher." Starr claims the bar was often crowded at this time, but a few of the familiar regulars had been drawn away on journalistic or political concerns (3).

Starr speculates that when William Howard Russell visited New York he most likely did not visit Pfaff's. According to Starr, the bar was not listed in any of the city's guidebooks and Starr also notes that Russell "received an impresion of the city that Pfaff's would have done nothing to correct" (3-4).

Of the scene, Starr writes: "If New York was not dancing on Doomsday, the Cave at 653 Broadway belied it" (4). According to Starr, "Regularly toward nightfall, Pfaff escorted any unwary patrons who were sitting in the vault to some other part of his restaurant, Henry Clapp, Jr., took his seat at the head of the table, the initiates appeared, and presently, in Whitman's words, 'there was as good talk around that table as took place anywhere in the world'" (4).

Starr writes: "Newspaper reporters and artists for the illustrated weeklies flocked to Pfaff's to savor Clapp's ripostes, hobnob with the literati, and pay homage to the 'Queen of Bohemia,' Ada Clare" (5).

Starr writes that Church's account of the battle at Fair Oaks was "notable" enough "to make Charlie Pfaff proud of him." Church's story ran on the entire first page of the July 3, 1862, Times (109).

According to Starr, the encampment of the "Bohemian Brigade" at the "tumble-down inn" in Jefferson City "became as uninhibited as Pfaff's" (63).

Starr also seems to indicate that Pfaff's was a place where news-rumors gained their own credence in how the war and battles were remembered (235).

Of the changes in climate during the late days of the war, Starr writes: "The new journalism had endowed reporters with a world of their own, with its own news and gossip, its own terminology, its own heroes, villains, clowns, myths, behavior patterns, stories of failure and success. In Charlie Pfaff's Broadway cellar, where once the talk had been of artistic and literary aspiration, the visitor in the fourth winter of the war might have heard how Ben. C. Truman of the Times beat the War Department by four days with news of the battle at Franklin, Tennessee; or of Herald reporter William J. Starks's astute deduction in teh woods near Petersburg that hundreds of squirrels chatters in the treetops betrayed teh recent passage of enemy troops, thereby saving Grant from capture during a reconnaissance; or the fate of R.D. Francis, the fat, sputtering Englishman hired and discharged in turn by teh Herald, Tribune, World, and Times, only to land in a Confederate prison..." (335).

Poe, Edgar [pages:5]
Raymond, Henry [pages:6,11,43-44,46,47,49,59,72,110,112,194,224,292,323]

Henry J. Raymond is listed with Horace Greeley, Bryant, Samuel Bowles, and R.B. Rhett who became famous as a result of the press' emphasis on opinion and editorial commentary than news and facts (6).

Starr refers to Greeley, Raymond and Bennett as "those titans of newspaperdom" and notes that their offices were all located in a small area of New York near City Hall Park. Theirs were the "only eight-page dailies in the United States" and were vital news sources for the country (11).

Raymond was among the large party of reporters that witnessed the first Battle of Bull Run; of the reporters caught in the battle, Raymond was one of two who had ever seen combat before, in the Austro-Italian war in 1859. (43-44). At 3:30, Raymond went to Centerville to find a courier and sent a "cautious" report to the Times, stating that the "result is not certain" (46). Shortly after Raymond sent his report, the tide of the battle turned, and in Centerville, Raymond rode to Washington after hearing of the retreat and managed to run into a "fresh stampede" from "an enormous Pennsylvania army wagon" (47).

Starr writes that in 1862, the "alert, immaculate, little Henry J. Raymond" joined the "Times crew" in Virginia to follow General McClellan's army (110).

During the riots of July 13-14,1863, Raymond defended the offices of the Times himself, armed with a Gatling gun at the front entrance, "commanding Park Row to the north" (224).

During Lincoln's re-election, Raymond was chairman of the Republican National Committee (323).

The Saturday Press [pages:4-5]

Starr cites the primary location for the editing and reading of the Saturday Press as Pfaff's. In William Dean Howell's opinion, it was as good to be published in the Saturday Press as it was to be published in the Atlantic Monthly, since despite one critic's claim that "man cannot live by snapping turtle alone," Howells admitted, in response, that "the Press was very good snapping turtle" (4-5).

The paper was "suspended" December 1860, and later brought back by Clapp with the announcement, "This paper was stopped in 1860 for want of means. It is now started again, for the same reason" (5).

Shepherd, Nathaniel [pages:197,198,200,204,210,216]

Shepherd traveled with Sypher, a reporter for the Tribune, who was following the Army's movements after Fredericksburg. In listing Sypher's party, Starr inlcudes "Shepherd, a poet described by a collegue as 'dignified and doleful'" (197). The party witnessed the battle at Chancellorsville and their safety seemed to be in question for the duration of the battle. Sypher wrote a scathing criticism of the battle and the General, "Fighting Joe" Hooker, that the Tribune dissociated itself from. Hooker ordered Sypher's arrest and Shepherd "was told by his staff that criticism would have consequences ugly for the critic." Sheperherd wrote about this threat to Gay in a letter dated May 15,1863. After the battle and the recovery of his reporters, Gay, managing editor of the Tribune said to Shepherd "you betray want of energy, celerity, aptness to comprehend military movements and ability to report them" (200).

June 20,1863, Shepherd was arrested on Gen. Hooker's orders for what he claimed was "a very innocent letter" and was "ordered out of the army" (204).

Shepherd was among the Tribune staff present at Gettysburg (210). During the battle, Shepherd lost touch with the other Tribune men, like Gray, "and like him convinced that the paper was hopelessly beaten, had no horse and remained on the field" (216).

Stedman, Edmund [pages:6,7,9,43-47,56,58,82,94,95,112,133,250,266,312,313,332,357, Plate IX (ill)]

Stedman worked as a reporter for the Tribune in 1860; he is quoted as remarking about being a newspaper reporter, "it is shameful to earn a living in this way" (6).

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian affored license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr mentions that Stedman "satirized a nouveau riche wedding so pointedly in verse in the Tribune that friends had to intervene to avert a duel with the bride's father" (7).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat ad whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

According to Starr, "Ed Stedman of the World got much of his inside information by serving at Attorney General Bates's pardon clerk" (82). Stedman would later become "digusted with the World now that it was turning 'Copperhead'" and claim that the Tribune under Dana was the best-edited paper (133). Stedman quit the World in 1862, when in turned Democratic, labeling it a "secessionist sheet" (357).

Stedman wrote to his brother of newspaper work: "It does not pay...It is better to be a tradesman" (250).

Stedman was a member of the large party of journalists that witnessed the first battle of Bull Run (43). Stedman was with Villard and House when Villard climbed a cherry tree, only to be knocked out of it, mouth full of cherries, by a "terrific roar" from the woods. Stedman also reported to his wife in a letter that during a prelimiary skirmish, when House "had one ball whiz by his ear, got frightened, galloped 22 miles to Washington, and there reported 500 killed, and that the press had fled the field" (44). Stedman was seen "in the thick of it" during the late afternoon battle "grab the standard of the Massachusetts Fifth, 'waving it over him and pleading for the men to rally around him, but it was all in vain'" (47). Stedman's account of this battle ran in all six columns on the front pages of the World and caused the issue to sell out (56). It was ranked among the paper's top pieces of reporting (332). Starr writes that Stedman's "Bull Run was often cited as one of the most graphic of battle dispatches" (357).

After the defeat at Ball's Bluff, "Ed Stedman rode forty-five miles to the scene at one clip, 'got bilious intermittenet fever,' pieced the story together, rode back to Washington, wrote six columns with his head wrapped in a towel, and heard that 'the government has stopped the World tonight and talks of interfering with men, because I got angry and told the truth about Ball's Bluff'" (Part of the material Starr quotes is from Stedman's collected letters) (58).

Stedman was one of a group of reporters, who "with varying degrees of enthusiasm" got involved with the "Chase-for-President" campaign (312). Interestingly, however, Stedman and "another innocent member of the committee inserted Winchell's 'confidential' letter (known subsequently as the Pomeroy Circular) in the Washington Constitutional Union. A letter that delcared Chase a candidate for the Presidency, openly criticized Lincoln, and called for a one-term limit. The publication of the letter more or less destroyed Chase's candidacy (313).

After quitting the World, Stedman maintained an "occasional correspondence" with the Times, and then quit newspaper work in favor of a job as a Wall Street stockbroker. Starr calls him "The Bard of Wall Street." Stedman worked as a stock broker for forty-five years, while also writing "tolerable poetry and excellent criticism." Starr also writes, "As the leader of the New York literary circle of his time, he was a paragon of gentility who, like his friend Thomas Bailey Aldrich looked back with incredulity at his Bohemian days at Pfaff's" (357).

Swinton, John [pages:274,358]

Swinton was military editor of the Times in 1862. He interviewed Grant that year at the Astor House; "Swinton elicited a few monosyllables on the war and the weather, tried other questions without avail, cleared his throat, shifted from foot to foot, and finally turned and fled" (274).

Starr also notes that John Swinton was managing editor of the Times for much of the war and later became a prominent Socialist editor and leader (358).

Swinton, William [pages:9,194,199,279,298,357-8]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Swinton was privy to Gen. Hooker's feelings on Burnside and the President, information which he relayed to Raymond. Raymond passed this information along to Lincoln, who admitted that he knew the general spoke badly of him, but acknowledged the general's current power (194).

At the battle of Chancellorsville, Swinton "departed immediately after Jackson's assault -- 'so badly scared,' wrote Hill in Washington, 'that a telegram was sent after him from the office here, requesting that care be used in printing his account as he gave it.' The Times withheld it entirely; but the next day Crounse (who had switched from the World because of its change in politics) came through to confirm what Swinton had written, and the two reporters, both competent men, scored heavily for their paper" (199).

Swinton was caught by Grant eavesdropping on one of Grant's staff meetings. Rather than resort to more extreme punishment that other generals might have chosen, such as shooting him, Grant let Swinton off with a reprimand. The next week, Burnside asked General Meade "that this man immediately receive the justice which was so justly meted out to another libeller of the press a day or two since, or that I be allowed to arrest and punish him myself." Burnside was largely angry over a report Swinton wrote about his corps. "Grant got the impression that Burnside intended to shoot the reporter, and immediately ordered Swinton's expulsion instead" (279).

Swinton, described as "sharp-featured," is also described by Starr as "one Bohemian well grounded in military strategy and tactics." His unsigned 1863 and 1864 "resumes in the Army and Navy Journal were accounted models of their kind by professional soldiers." Swinton's 1866 book, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomic "shocked Northerners by its dispassionate tone, particularly its use of 'Confederate' for 'rebel.'" Starr argues that it is a "valuable reference," as Swinton conducted several interviews with officers and attempted to submit proofs of the book to Meade, Hooker, Franklin, Couch, Hancock, Lee, and Johnston; he did not submit proofs to Grant or Burnside, and Starr claims that Swinton's work "fails to give Grant his due." In 1869, Swinton became a professor at the newly-established University of California; he quit five years later "after a ruckus with the president." Starr also notes "Millions of school children were exposed to the texts Swinton subsequently turned out on almost every grade-school subject" (357-358).

Taylor, Bayard [pages:17,93-94,195]

Of the "measure of prestige and influence" that the Tribune carried when it became an unprecedented success, Taylor said "the Tribune is next to the Bible all through the West" (17).

To follow the Manassas campaign, Dana "sent one of the Tribune's prima donnas, Bayard Taylor, the big, genial poet and world traveler whose descriptive work in California and with Perry's expedition to Japan had provided the paper with some of its most notable reporting, to follow the campaign. Taylor piled on the satire, datelining one dispatch 'Camp Disappointment, near Centreville,' and was only too happy to accept an offer a few days later to go to St. Petersburg as Secretary of the American legation. War correspondence, he confessed, was 'a test of human endurance' for which he had no taste" (93-94).

In a discussion of the preference of editors to keep the identities of their war correspondents anonymous or under the cover of a pen name, Starr writes about the different choice of editors. Some writers were allowed men names or initials, while editors like Bennet insisted on anonymity. Some writers, however, were allowed to identify themselves, as Starr quotes Sam Wilkeson's explanation of the "prevailing view" to Gay: "The anonymous greatly favors freedom and boldness in newspaper correspondence. I would not allow any letter writer to attach his initials to his communications, unless he was a widely known & influential man like Greeley or Bayard Taylor...Besides the responsibility it fastens on a correspondent, the signature inevitably detracts from the powerful impersonality of a journal" (195).

Thomson, Mortimer [pages:7,9]

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian affored license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr mentions that Thomson ("Doesticks") from the Tribune and George Forster Williams from the Times "spirited the Prince of Wales from the Fifth Avenue Hotel to a bar on Twenty-Fifth Street, where, while tumult reigned in the royal entourage as a result of his disappearance, they introduced His delighted Highness to a mint julep" (7).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Twain, Mark [pages:246-247,260,PlateXII (ill)]

In reference to the problem of "intelligent contrabands" and incorrect reporting that occurred in the rush to get news to press during the Civil War, Mark Twain asked everyone present at an 1869 New York Press Club dinner to "raise their glasses to 'the journalist's truest friend -- the late "Reliable Contraband," one whose fervent fancy wrought its miracles solely for our enrichment and renown." Twain continued:

"...When armies fled in panic...and the great cause seemed lost beyond all hope of succor, who was it that turned the tide of war and gave victory to the vanquished? The Reliable Contraband...Who took Richmond the first time? The Reliable Contraband. Who took it every time until the last? The Reliable Contraband. When we needed a bloodless victory, to whom did we look to win it? The Reliable Contraband...Thunder and lightning never stopped him; annihilated railroads never delayed him; the telegraph never overtook him; military secrecy never crippled his knowledge...

No journalist among us can lay his hand on his heart and say he never lied with such pathos, such unction, such exquisite symmetry, such sublimity of conception and such fidelity of execution, as when he did it through and by the inspiration of this regally gifted marvel of mendacity, the lamented Reliable Contraband. Peace to his ashes!"

Mark Twain was not a war correspondent (246-247).

Starr mentions that after his days as a war correspondent, Charles Henry Webb was a close friend of Mark Twain (260).

Ward, Artemus [pages:4]

As an example of his claim that "The wit and frolic, at least, were beyond cavil," Starr cites the following exchange: "Charles F. Browne ('Artemus Ward') read a telegram from a California lecture bureau: 'What will you take for forty nights?' Clapp sang out: 'Brandy and soda, tell them,' an answer that endeared Browne to the West Coast" (4).

Webb, Charles [pages:9,43,96,121,259,260-261,266]

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Starr describes him as one of the "withering realists" of the time (259).

Webb traveled with the Times and the large group of journalists that witnessed the first Battle of Bull Run (43).

Of Webb's skill, Starr writes: "Charles Henry Webb of the Times far outshone him [Smalley]. Despite a talent for mischief Webb brought with him from Pfaff's, he was a competant reporter, among the first in the North to comprehend the genius of Thomas J. Jackson." Starr prints an excerpt from Webb's report on Jackson and the battle of Cross Keys (121).

Webb, "later a close friend of Mark Twain, imparted a light touch to the correspondence of the New York Times. Webb delighted in unexpected twists in the midst of perfectly sensible recitals, ending one dispatch: 'I hope to date my next letter from Richmond,' a sentiment so trite as to be painful, adding, '-not from the tobacco factories, however'" (260-261).

Starr also notes that Webb nearly drowned while crossing a stream that was too high for the troops to cross in the spring of 1862. Starr also writes that "Unlike many of his fellows, Webb retained his perspective in writing of the enemy. 'Of the horrors and atrocities that are related as having been practiced by the Confederate troops,' he wrote, 'I must confess I do not believe one. These men are our countrymen...Are we to believe that the lapse of a year has transformed them to fiends?' This was the resolute fair-mindedness that prompted him to given Stonewall Jackson his fair due" (261).

Whitman, Walt [pages:4,5,8,15-16,192,245,264]

Of the scene at Pfaff's, Starr writes: "If New York was not dancing on Doomsday, the Cave at 653 Broadway belied it." For one supporting example, Starr quotes Whitman, who "celebrated" "the vault at Pfaff's where the drinkers and laughers meet to eat and drink and carouse" (4).

Whitman "hailed" Ada Clare as "the New Woman" (5).

Arnold's columns written under the name "McAroni," which were "burlesques on war correspondence" where Arnold took the position of "one of 'the chivalry' defending the Southern cause," would prompt an argument between Whitman and Arnold as tensions rose among the excited group at Pfaff's immediately before the Civil War (8).

Whitman worked with Richardson to lobby Congress and Gen. Grant to relax restrictions regarding prisoner exchanges and prison camps in the last few months of the war (192).

Starr quotes Whitman's description of Charles Dana during his tenure as the managing editor of the Tribune p. 15-16. Whitman often saw Dana walking to work across the park from his home 90 Clinton Place to the Tribune offices (15-16).

During the Wilderness campaign in 1864, Whitman wrote his mother his thoughts on the press: "The fighting has been hard enough, but the papers make lots of additional items, and a good deal they just entirely make up. There are from 600 to 1000 wounded coming in here -- not 6 to 8000 as the papers have it...They, the papers, are determined to make up just anything" (245).

Echoing the sentiments of others who felt that the "real" war would never be reported upon, Whitman wrote: "the real war will never get in the books...The actual soldier of 1861-5, North and South, with all his ways, his incredible dauntlessness, habits, practices, tastes, language, his fierce friendship, his appetite, rankness, his superb strength and animality, lawless gait, and a hundred unnamed lights and shades of camp, I say, will never be written" (264).

Williams, George [pages:7,9,161-162,277,338]

In a discussion of the idea that "To be a Bohemian affored license for all manner of youthful exuberances," Starr mentions that Thomson ("Doesticks") from the Tribune and George Forster Williams from the Times "spirited the Prince of Wales from the Fifth Avenue Hotel to a bar on Twenty-Fifth Street, where, while tumult reigned in the royal entourage as a result of his disappearance, they introduced His delighted Highness to a mint julep" (7).

Starr writes that in the days prior to the Civil War, like many others in New York, the "Pfaffians were exposed increasingly to the clamour of a world beyond their ken. Something like a revolution was afoot in the realm of journalism, a revolution that would lift these light-hearted pranksters from their subterranean retreat and whirl them in its vortex. Soon O'Brien, Aldrich, Thomson, Williams, and Stedman, together with others in Clapp's happy coterie--Charles G. Halpine (who stammered to fame at Pfaff's, speaking inadvertantly of 'H-H-Harriet Beseecher Bestowe'), William Conant Church, William Swinton, E.H. House, Charles Henry Webb, a couple of artists, Frank H. Bellew and Thomas Nast: in all more than half of the identifiable clientele at the Cave--would take the field along with hundreds of other youths of like mind to participate in the greatest undertaking in the history of journalism" (9).

Williams, a reporter for the Times wrote a piece about Sheridan's military operations that Grant liked so much he invited Williams to dine with him (277).

Williams was invited to dine with President Lincoln after he published a piece of Sheridan (161-62).