Words at War: The Civil War and American Journalism analyzes the various ways in which the nation's newspaper editors, reporters, and war correspondents covered the biggest story of their lives—the Civil War—and in doing so both reflected and shaped the responses of their readers. The four sections of the book, Fighting Words, Confederates and Copperheads, The Union Forever, and Continuing Conflict trace the evolving role of the press in the antebellum, wartime, and postwar periods.
Preface, by David Sachsman
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Roy Morris Jr.
Part I: Fighting Words
Southern vs. Northern News: A Case Study of Historical Agenda-Setting, 1820–1860, by Donald Shaw, Randall Patnode, and Diana Knott Martinelli
Dueling Editors: The Nullifi cation Plot of 1832, by Patricia McNeely
Virginia and Andrew Jackson’s Proclamation: The Emergence of an Opposition Party, by Douglas W. Cupples
Lewis Tappan and the Friends of Amistad: The Crusade to Save the Abolition Movement, by Bernell E. Tripp
William Cullen Bryant’s 30-Year Crusade against Slavery, by Gregg MacDonald
The Failure of a Moderate Southern Voice: Andrew Jackson Donelson’s Tenure as Editor of the Washington Union, by Mark Cheathem
Murder and Mayhem: Violence, Press Coverage, and the Mobilization of the Republican Party in 1856, by Katherine A. Pierce
Tales in Black and White: The Two Faces of 19th-Century Abolitionist James Redpath, by Bernell E. Tripp
“The Hay Stack Excitement”: Moral Panic and Hysterical Press after John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry, by Brian Gabrial
Part II: Confederates and Copperheads
North Carolina Newspapers and Secession, by T. Harrell Allen
Knights of the Quill: A Brief History of the Confederate Press, by Debra Reddin van Tuyll
Wartime News over Southern Wires:
The Confederate Press Association, by Ford Risley
The Press under Pressure: Georgia Newspapers and the Civil War, by Calvin M. Logue, Eugene Miller, and Christopher J. Schroll
“Another Copperhead Lie”: Marcellus Emery and the Bangor Union and Democrat, by Crompton Burton
The Arrest and Trial of Clement L. Vallandigham in 1863, by Giovanna Dell’Orto
Civil War Spin: The Bogus Proclamation of 1864, by Menahem Blondheim
Part III: “The Union Forever”
Journalism in Civil War Indiana: The Party Press and Free Expression, by David W. Bulla
Damning Voices: The Press, the Politicians, and the Mankato Indian Trials of 1862, by Brian Gabrial
African Americans and the Civil War as Reflected in the Christian Recorder, 1861–1862, by Hazel Dicken-Garcia and Linus Abraham
Independent or Compromised? Civil War Correspondent Sylvanus Cadwallader, by William E. Huntzicker
Abraham Lincoln’s Relationship with James Gordon Bennett and Horace Greeley during the Civil War, by Gene Murray
“No Turning Back”: The Offi cial Bulletins of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, by Crompton Burton
“O the Sad, Sad Sights I See”: Walt Whitman’s Civil War Journalism, by Roy Morris Jr.
Part IV: Continuing Confl ict
Taking No Right for Granted: The Southern Press and the 15th Amendment, by Gregory Borchard
“What Can We Say of Such a Hero?” Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Press, by Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill
Partners in Crime: Southern Newspaper Editors and the Ku Klux Klan, by G. Michael Bush
An Irresponsible Press: Memphis Newspapers and the 1866 Riot, by Marius Carriere
Race, Reconciliation, and Historical Memory in American Newspapers during the Centennial Year, by Robert Rabe
God of Wrath, God of Peace: Popular Religion, Popular Press, and the Meaning of the Civil War during Reconstruction, by Edward J. Blum
“Draw Him Up, Boys”: A Historical Review of Lynching Coverage in Select Virginia Newspapers, 1880–1900, by James E. Hall
Index
About the Editors
Contributors
