What would a US Civil War era newspaper article say?

Question

What topics would it touch on?

Answer 1

It would have many of the same types of articles that we have today, such as national and local news, political issues, and of course, news of the war. There would be editorials and political cartoons. No sports news, no weather maps, and no comics pages like we have today. Some may give lists of the fallen in the war, as that was one way to communicate to the public the lists of those that died in battles. Also, depending on the paper, there may be recipes, sewing patterns, agricultural news, etc. And there would be advertisements, too.

If you are anywhere near a university library or a big city library, they most probably would have an old newspaper from the period that you could look through to get a really good idea of what the paper was like.

Answer 2

Communism isn't suggested, or maybe considered, in Article I of the structure. yet communists do have First change rights. besides the indisputable fact that, the freedom of speech, press, faith, petition, and assembly does no longer carry over to acts meant to overthrow the country and subvert the structure. BTW. The jailing of communists began interior the Nineteen Twenties, no longer a decade later.

Answer 3

They would be pointing out Robert E. Lee's mistakes and telling the public what he should be doing.

Answer 4

Murder Of Union Prisoners


Full Text of Article:
Senator Wade, as chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, is now revising the sheets of the report of that committee, comprising recent testimony as to the treatment of our prisoners received at the hands of the rebels. The committee say the evidence clearly shows that tens of thousands of our brave soldiers have fallen victims to that savage and infernal spirit which actuated those who spared not the prisoners at their mercy, who sought by midnight arson to destroy hundreds of defenceless women and children, and who hesitated not to resort to means to commit acts so horrible that the nations of the earth stand aghast as they are told what has been done. The prison surgeons' report of the Richmond prisons for one quarter shows that a fraction over one-half of all the cases entered resulted in death, and most of these deaths were more the result of inhuman treatment and neglect than disease. But a little more than half the necessary number of beds were provided, and the nurses often occupied them to the exclusion of the sick. After our men died, their bodies were treated as the carcasses of so many dead animals. They were piled in the dead house, and their eyes and cheeks eaten out by rats before they were put in coffins. The keepers generally manifested almost total indifference to the lives and condition of the prisoners. And as one of the many illustrations of this, a witness testified to the following: "I was standing one day by the hospital. One of our ***** soldiers, captured at the explosion of the mine near Petersburg, was standing near by, engaged in skirmishing--as we prisoners call it--examining his clothes for vermin. A rebel sentinel, at whom I happened to be looking at the time, drew up his musket, took deliberate aim and fired, killing the ***** on the spot. On being asked what he did it for, he answered, 'To see the d--d black son of a b-- drop.'" The rebels said they got thirty days' furlough for shooting a Yankee. The committee say it is a matter of congratulation that, notwithstanding the great provocations to pursue a different course, our authorities have ever treated their prisoners humanely and generously, and have, in all respects, conducted this contest according to the rules of the most civilized warfare.
--Washington Correspondence of the New York Times.




GOSSIP WITH OUR FRIENDS.--Eighty-nine years ago there was grave trouble among the UNITED COLONIES of North America. On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved that "these UNITED COLONIES are and of right ought to be free and independent States." Thus, Jefferson, of Va.; John Adams, of Mass.; Benj. Franklin, of Penna.; Roger Sherman, of Conn., and Robert R. Livingston, of New York, were appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, as chairman, prepared the document. This Declaration, after being discussed several days and slightly amended was adopted at 2 o'clock on the 4TH OF JULY, 1776. The aforesaid document contained the following: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."--How the Confederated States, having become a government under the title of UNITED STATES, lived up to these bold words, let history show. If Mr. Jefferson's writings do not exhibit that he, at least, thought slavery an evil, to be gotten rid of as soon as possible, depending upon the very spirit that actuated the "Declaration," and upon the abhorrence that the signers of the same had for injustice--if such was not the case, then there is no use in writing one's thoughts at all. This same Mr. Jefferson, the great exponent of Democracy, "trembled when he reflected that God was just," and well might he tremble. But thank God, the day for trembling has passed by. We have received our punishment. The whole country has been scourged. We had not, like King David, the choice of war, famine, or pestilence; but war, civil war, a fearful fratricidal war was forced upon us, with the unexpected and wonderful result--the freedom of the *****. The Republican party can lay little more claim to this than the Democratic. God did it. Let us submit.

Alas, your Gossip has been led outside of his track, and now returns with due humility to that with which he is familiar. The war has lasted four years. How well do we all remember the celebrated Patterson campaign of '61, when the three-months' men rendered our town so gay, when we used to have parades in the Diamond, when we looked with awe upon a Colonel, and when we wilted at the sight of the first Brigadier, when we looked confidently for the early destruction of Stonewall Jackson and his men. These were the primitive days of innocence, and then followed '62, when McClellan was "our young Napoleon," when the nine-months' men went forth to battle at Antietam and Fredericksburg, and when Stuart came upon us, like a thief in the night, setting fire to the Railroad buildings, and frightening us out of our wits. And after that, in due chronological order, came '63, with Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. What an exodus was there, my countrymen! What a carrying business the Cumberland Valley Railroad did; what a scarcity there was of colored population and horses, and how, in the instant, every retail store enlarged its business and became wholesale! How our hearts sank within us as we watched the long line of the invading army march through our streets and past our doors, for eight long, weary days. Three mortal weeks were we then in the enemy's lines, (and they were not pleasant places either,) during which time our news came from Richmond, and we knew no more what was going on outside than if we had been dead and buried, until we heard of GETTYSBURG, the glorious. '64 succeeded, and with it the destruction of our homes, the wanton, wicked burning of a whole town of unarmed citizens. The flames rise high before us now, and again we see the crowds of homeless fugitives clustering around the ruins of their homesteads like bees about an upturned hive, and once again we hear Horace Greely, the merciful, laugh, "Served them right." '65 is here, and "our flag is there." Go look at it waving and flapping in the breeze. The stripes no longer typical of the bloody backs of the ***** slave, but the stars, everyone, meaning E Pluribus Unum. How differently this 4th of July from the four preceding. Now we can gather under our own vines, even though scorched and blackened, and can shout for the old flag till we are hoarse.