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MR. KENNEDY'S
NEWS & PRINTING SHOP
In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg and Andreas Dritzehan, who were gem cutters, and Andreas Heilmann who owned of a paper mill, began work on the printing press. By 1439, Johannes Gutenberg perfected his printing press and also moveable type which had been invented by the Chinese in 1040. The printing press with moveable type was the greatest invention for communicating information to the general public.
With the invention of the telegraph in 1844, news became even more accessible. By 1860, the U.S. had around 2,500 newspapers and over 50,000 miles of telegraph wire. Between 1861 and 1865 the North had approximately 350 correspondents and the South had approximately 150 correspondents who reported on the war. Correspondents were usually paid by the story. Freelance writers were paid between $5 and $10 per column. Sometimes the stories were more sensational than fact. Even though they were protected by international conventions of armed warfare, history shows that it was a dangerous job since they were often considered targets. Army officers weren't happy with correspondents because they would report troop movements. Some were also accused of being a spy.
Gutenberg Press
After the battle it was a race to the nearest telegraph to have your story sent to your newspaper. At the newspaper office, type setters would set the type for the next edition. If you were a sketch artist your sketches had to be taken by train or carrier. Sketches were then delivered to the newspaper where engravers would cut printing blocks, which then were printed in the newspaper. Small newspapers usually didn't have the resources to employ engravers so they depended on the larger newspapers for their print blocks
Harper's Weekly was the most popular newspaper during the Civil War. You can read online the published stories of the war correspondents and see the illustrations of the war artists HERE.
George Alfred Townsend was the youngest war correspondent of the Civil War. Townsend erected a monument in 1896 on ground he had purchased on South Mountain near Antietam as a memorial to his fellow war correspondents. On various places on the arch are quotations on the art of war correspondence and inscribed on tablets are the names of 157 war correspondents and artists. In 1904 the monument was turned over to the National Park Service.
Tom Kennedy, war correspondent, sketches the Keystone Regiment in battle and writes what happens.
The latest Civil War news is put to type in a small town newspaper office.
