Letters to the editor

[tony_gunter]

When soldiers wrote letters to the editor of a newspaper, how did they refer to them?

Letters?
Correspondence?
Article?

How did soldiers choose the paper(s) with which they corresponded? How common was it for a soldier to correspond with a newspaper several states from their home, and what would be the purpose of, say, a Missouri soldier writing to a Cincinnati paper?

 

[LSBusch]

They were called letters. My book quotes many of them and discusses the letters Colonel William T. Shaw, originally of the 14th Iowa, wrote to Iowa newspapers criticizing General Nathaniel Banks after the Battle of Pleasant Hill. The purpose? Express frustration and anger. As a result, he was stripped of his command of the Third Division, Sixteenth Corps and dismissed from the Army. That was later reversed.

Some of the letter writers just seemed to want to share news with the folks back home, and they were very helpful in my research. I suppose they were also called correspondence, but newspaper people prefer shorter words!

I used newspapers.com extensively in my research, but I am having trouble logging on to it this morning so can't give more specific examples.

 

[DanSBHawk]

When soldiers wrote letters to the editor of a newspaper, how did they refer to them?

Letters?
Correspondence?
Article?

How did soldiers choose the paper(s) with which they corresponded? How common was it for a soldier to correspond with a newspaper several states from their home, and what would be the purpose of, say, a Missouri soldier writing to a Cincinnati paper?

In the incident you're referring to, there was a guy named WD Bickham that was attached to the army, and worked for the Cincinnati paper.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

what would be the purpose of, say, a Missouri soldier writing to a Cincinnati paper?

Maybe the Missouri unit had been stationed in Ohio or the soldier was originally from there and still had family & friends there?

Alternatively, the Missouri unit or its commander or its parent unit may have been besmirched by the paper. The Missouri soldier took Uxbridge upon learning of the negative press.

 

[tony_gunter]

They were called letters. My book quotes many of them and discusses the letters Colonel William T. Shaw, originally of the 14th Iowa, wrote to Iowa newspapers criticizing General Nathaniel Banks after the Battle of Pleasant Hill. The purpose? Express frustration and anger. As a result, he was stripped of his command of the Third Division, Sixteenth Corps and dismissed from the Army. That was later reversed.

Some of the letter writers just seemed to want to share news with the folks back home, and they were very helpful in my research. I suppose they were also called correspondence, but newspaper people prefer shorter words!

I used newspapers.com extensively in my research, but I am having trouble logging on to it this morning so can't give more specific examples.

If a soldier referred to such a correspondence as an article, would you infer that his input was elicited by a correspondent with the paper?

 

[Kurtlg]

I don't know if he wrote to the NY Herald while he was recuperating in DC , but Sickles wrote anonymously as "historicus" in an attempt to destroy Meade's performance at Gettysburg and to inflate the performance of General Sickles.

 

[tony_gunter]

Maybe the Missouri unit had been stationed in Ohio or the soldier was originally from there and still had family & friends there?

Alternatively, the Missouri unit or its commander or its parent unit may have been besmirched by the paper. The Missouri soldier took umbrage upon learning of the negative press.

The soldier in question was in the 11th Missouri, William S Stewart age 31, born in Indiana 1831, graduated from Asbury College in Greencastle, Indiana, moved to St Louis and practiced law. I'm not aware of any negative press for his unit, the primary purpose of the correspondence was to complain about Grant being absent ("dead drunk") from battle at Iuka.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

The soldier in question was in the 11th Missouri, William S Stewart age 31, born in Indiana 1831, graduated from Asbury College in Greencastle, Indiana, moved to St Louis and practiced law. I'm not aware of any negative press for his unit, the primary purpose of the correspondence was to complain about Grant being absent ("dead drunk") from battle at Iuka.

That explains it. Rosecrans lived and worked in Cincinnati in the years immediately before the war.

 

[DanSBHawk]

That explains it. Rosecrans lived and worked in Cincinnati in the years immediately before the war.

And WD Bickham was the Cincinnati reporter attached to Rosecrans' army.

 

[tony_gunter]

And WD Bickham was the Cincinnati reporter attached to Rosecrans' army.

Interestingly, immediately after this "article" Stewart offers to send a great deal of money to his mother, saying that "it's better than bank money, it's credit extended to me by [?]"

I don't know that Bickham would have that kinda money, but Rosecrans did.

 

[LSBusch]

If a soldier referred to such a correspondence as an article, would you infer that his input was elicited by a correspondent with the paper?

Good question! And I don't have an answer. It's possible.

 

[huskerblitz]

Some Kentucky papers referred to articles written by soldiers as both correspondence and/or letters. Some wrote frequently about their regiments, these were referred mostly as letters. At least one writer was a former editor to that paper and as lieutenant wrote back to the paper and his were often referred to as correspondence.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Besides letters directly to the editor, there was also the practice of writing nominally private correspondence that the writer expected would be published in the newspaper as being of interest to general public.

 

[tony_gunter]

Some Kentucky papers referred to articles written by soldiers as both correspondence and/or letters. Some wrote frequently about their regiments, these were referred mostly as letters. At least one writer was a former editor to that paper and as lieutenant wrote back to the paper and his were often referred to as correspondence.

Did that lieutenant utilize telegraph or mail for important dispatches?

 

[tony_gunter]

The correspondence in question was written near Corinth September 23rd and showed up in print in Cincinnati September 29th.

Would that have been carried over bulk mail? Telegraph? Some other means (contracted carrier by train or boat)?

 

[John Hartwell]

An interesting letter written to a soldier's home town newspaper, might well be reprinted in newspapers from other states. "Courtesy copies" of papers were widely distributed to other publications, and copying content was commonplace.

 

[huskerblitz]

Did that lieutenant utilize telegraph or mail for important dispatches?

I believe letters, but not entirely sure.

 

[tony_gunter]

I believe letters, but not entirely sure.

The letter I'm looking at was written in Corinth on September 23rd and arrived in Cincinnati September 28th, five days.

That seems fast for bulk mail delivery, slow for telegraph … so I'm wondering if major newspapers had some type of express courier system.

 

[huskerblitz]

The letter I'm looking at was written in Corinth on September 23rd and arrived in Cincinnati September 28th, five days.

That seems fast for bulk mail delivery, slow for telegraph … so I'm wondering if major newspapers had some type of express courier system.

Adams Express did carry documents during the war.

 

[tony_gunter]

Adams Express did carry documents during the war.

Did they? I was reading up on them last night and it seems like they had strict rules against carrying documents. Although, if you had documents wrapped up and disguised as a parcel, could they really stop you?

Also, apparently receipts for Adams Express are collectible and some of the examples online appear to be for express delivery of documents.