Charlie Venturi
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| Newspaper Correspondent Charlie Venturi |
A Profile of the "Bohemian
Brigade"
Being Composed of Civil War Newspaper Correspondents
Mr. Venturi is long-suffering re-enactor of voracious reading habits who portrays a journalist. Depending on his event or living history environment, he represents the New York Herald, the Press Association of the Confederacy, the London Index, the Hartford (or Connecticut) Courant, the Richmond Enquirer, the Boston Journal or, most often a foot-loose, free-spirited, generic "Penny-A-Liner." He covered Gettysburg 135 as an actual field correspondent for the web site "Wild Geese" and experienced first-hand the debilitating hardships of negotiating the vast terrain of camp and battlefield, the noise and press of uncountable troops, a poor diet, the mind-muddling effects of alcoholic refreshment, nagging report deadlines, and numerous reluctant, recalcitrant, refractory and ignorant officers. And, in the bargain, he was "wounded."
What is the History of the War Correspondent? What we modems consider a War Correspondent has existed in a more simplified form as early as our war with Mexico in the 1840s, The reporter then served as a conduit for official military reports and his work was considered as an avocation. By the mid-1850s, newspapers prospered from unimagined profits and could afford to send men to interesting faraway places and events. The telegraph allowed those men to report with incredible immediacy so that within days, the public devoured first-hand reports of our miniature civil war in 'Bloody Kansas," replete with lurid tales of fierce, hate-filled partisan fighting. With little restraint, the correspondents sprinkled their accounts with tid-bits about claim jumpers, horse thieves, lynch mobs, election frauds and cold-blooded shootings. These imaginative stories encouraged America's appetite for "foreign' news. The average reader's interest was further stimulated, later in the decade, by reports from the exotically placed Crimean War. By 1860, newspaper journalism grew to a somewhat professional status and it is unthinkable, in 1861, for publishers not to send these professionals to armies "on the field" in order to relate the "real" war and to describe all about the "real" men fighting that war.
Who is this correspondent fellows Titled journalists, correspondents, reporters, the press, newspapermen plus a number of colorful unsavory appellations. They function within a clearly defined pecking order. The most highly regarded is the "Special' or "Regular": the man-in-the-field who is paid a wage and subsidized by his paper. For speed, he often writes in a form of shorthand, usually his own devising. Next in line is the "Occasional" a local newspaperman, or some independent who happens to be in the area. He is hired to cover a particular event is paid only while he works. Another incarnation of the "Occasional" is a person in position to provide inside information but who writes anonymously because he is usually a soldier in the field, or a civilian employed in some military capacity. The next on down the scale is the "Freelancer" a man who pays his own expenses out-of-pocket and risks all by mailing his story unsolicited to a paper, hoping they will use it and praying they will pay him. Also known as "Penny-A-Liners", these lowest-of-the-low, include a few women and often unsuspecting soldier's whose letters to family are full of news. Women are also employed to cover the city beats while the "genuine" journalists are off to war. "Brother-in-arms" to the writer is the sketch-artist. Besides being more often made welcome at army headquarters, the two types differ in some minor ways. The past equivalent of the news photographer, he is often a younger, more generally dedicated individual and receives better pay, yet he is much like the man of words and makes common cause with him. They all work for newspapers printed in tiny type, without headlines or photographs. The war, however, is stimulating the use of front page woodcut illustrations, the summary paragraph and, eventually, headlines and bylines.
These reporters and sketchers do not hesitate to criticize those they, or their papers, disdain by freely taking liberties with lesser truths for the sake of larger ones. As individuals they make judgments with great energy when not hampered by censorship. They know thew strength lies in that publicity and information are negotiable currency in the capitols of Washington and Richmond and to that end they have intercepted official reports even be-fore the military Secretaries have seen diem. Ed Stedman, field correspondent for the New York World, admitted that "it is shameful to earn a living this way.'
The "ink shined wretches" utilize florid writing filled with euphemisms and clauses and any device that contributes to a stimulating piece. They feel no responsibility to present both sides. They write flamboyantly with teasing sexual hints for the male readers, maudlin sentimentality for the moms at home and vivid descriptions for the prurient; they write almost exhibitionistically. This is acceptable because they view themselves as a volunteer company of bohemian gentleman adventurers. Since they are not all men of high character, much of the work arriving at an editor's desk is hackneyed, hastily conceived, confusedly written (or drawn) and unclear in perception. Some pieces are inaccurate or invented dispatches (or sketches) dripping with partisan and inflammatory sensationalism, exaggeration, lies, puffery, faked eye-witness accounts and conjectures of the imagination. Most of them subvert truth for the sake of loyalty to government, party or publisher. And their readers love it!
What is his environment? The military field correspondent's acceptance varies as widely as his personality, the reputation of his paper, and the agenda of the officer in charge. The armies are ministered, generally, by three types of men. First, is the 'Old Army" or 'Regular" officer, often a West Pointer with Indian, Mormon and/or Mexican War experience. These, often stodgy military minds, dislike the presence of the press because the correspondent practices unmilitary behavior and is hard to discipline. Whether liked or despised, it is not uncommon, early in the war, for a warrior of this "luckless tribe" to be arrested for "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." With some justification, an officer feels military secrecy is compromised by a printed story. Presenting a generally United front to the generals, the newsmen's angry response is that more information goes out through spies, unhappy soldiers, drunken officers and camp visitors than any newspaper could possibly reveal. These published indiscretions--for the most part that's all they are--are rarely punished.
The "Political Officer" is the second type: a man appointed through powerful associates or who raised a regiment by use of his own personal wealth, position and influence. This man usually courts the journalist at headquarters to insure that the folks back home will read fine things about him.
The third " is the "Citizen Soldier": with little or no military background but who has risen to rank through native ability, attrition in the field, friends in high places, or just plain luck.
The members of this group are mixed in their attitudes toward the press, suiting each individual temperament and purpose.
The list of officers who blow first hot then cold then hot again with the press includes familiar names: Northern generals U. S. Grant, Billy Sherman, William Rosecrans and Henry Halleck and Southern leaders Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg, and Stonewall Jackson. The .politically motivated generals Den Butler and George McClellan, ambitious Joe Hooker, stolid and less overtly ambitious Pete Longstreet and the colorful cavalryman, Jeb Stuart try to make the reporters life relatively enjoyable.
During the occasions when new policy, or a personal grudge, bans a journalist from the army, the individual literate cast-out often attaches himself to any friendly unit. He sometimes appears on someone's staff as a voluntary aide (occasionally with a temporary commission!), or at a field hospital as an orderly, or as a teamster on a wagon train, or within a regiment as a cook. To survive in this hostile world, the correspondent learns to live by his wits like any cony man and, in a pinch, will often acquire a necessary pass from a friendly supply officer. Overall, the dangerous work of reporting is physically and emotionally exhausting. To the bitter end, the war between the military and the press remains as hot as that played out upon the fields of glory. But the groundwork laid was utilized during the ensuing World Wars.
About thrity-one newsmen are captured or killed. Most of those made prisoner are detained a day or two, then released as noncombatants. Representatives of the New York Tribune are the exception and are sorely treated by the Rebels when captured. So hated in the South is this abolitionist paper that possession is a felony in Virginia and carries the death penalty in Texas.
How does the journalist deal with censorship. Censorship in the field during the War Between the States was easier to circumvent than that within the respective capitals of Washington City and Richmond. As example, a column might identify a regiment, its numbers, where it’s camped, the names of its officers and where it is headed. Useful stuff. This invariably causes a knee-jerk reaction m the capitol which in turn creates an effective blackout to communications. In this situation, even the respective White Houses have difficulty learning the results of the next battle. The inconsistent censorship causes news to appear in Washington and Boston papers but not in New York and Baltimore, or in Chicago but not in Philadelphia. Poignantly aware of the problem, President Lincoln is always courteous to the press, engaging them with the words "What news have you?" His approach rewards him with first information from the press concerning the battles at Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Both Lincoln and Davis suffer acute sensitivity to the editors' interest in news. During the fractious trial-and-error adjustments, twenty to thirty newspapers are shut down in die North and one in the South
Among the troops, the response to the reporter in his midst is wide ranged. Courageous, talented journalists such as Northerners Carlton Coffin of the Boston Journal, and artist Alfred Waud of Harper's Weekly and Southerners Peter Alexander and Felix de Fontaine--both of the latter wrote for several papers-- are well liked and respected, other individuals are shunned or reviled as drunks and cowards. Men of both extremes are assaulted by army wits as they pass by: "Hey, give our captain a setting up, you sir! And puff our Colonel!" or "Give me a good obituary, Jenkins!" ("Jenkins" being a derisive term of English origin.) The soldiers often turn newsman and publish their own papers for fun and morale whenever they can get their hands on a printing press. Or they will simply write them in pencil and pass them around the camp.
What does a "news scribbler" look like? He is invariably a man. His civilian dress is a homemade suit of home-spun or hand-tailored superfine broadcloth; an old wool or straw hat or the latest bowler; a loud blaring vest with watch & a ribbon to secure it or a willful waistcoat containing a pocket timepiece tethered by a gold chain; he wears coarse brogans or fine leather riding boots. His attire reflects the diversity of his background and present circumstances and is sometimes complimented by a military cast-off or two.. Ms accessories almost always include a handgun ranging from a little shiny vest pocket pistol to a heavy Colt .44 revolver, or two. He often rides a borrowed or rented horse with saddlebags and carries a wool blanket and a rubber waterproof and, certainly, a pair of field glasses. Whether quick and creative or dull and incompetent, he is never without his notebook, or sketchbook, (bound or loose, large or small) and his pencil sharpened on a folding knife. For presumably risking his life in battle and jeopardizing it in camp and on the road, the "Special" is paid $10 to $25 a week plus expenses ... if approved! The main difference between him and the soldier is his age. When the war began, he is about thirty to forty years old but he is getting younger due to the struggle to survive in the field. By 1863 his age has dropped to the middle twenties and by the end, many are mere teenagers.
Who pays the bills? The great metropolitan newspapers of New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Richmond, as well as the major press associations, sponsor dozens of men in the field at any one time, advising them to get the beat (scoop) on the others at whatever the cost. Pro-Democratic (anti-war) papers in the North have difficulty getting cooperation from anyone so none of them has a star reporter in the field. Those smaller, poorer papers such as the Hartford Courant , subscribe to the Associated Press (AP) telegraphic wire service. The Petersburgh (Virginia) Express utilizes its counterpart in the Press Association of the Confederacy (PA). Although Lincoln does not have an official media organ, the Washington Morning Chronicle is loyal and willingly expresses the Presidents policies. Jeff Davis uses the Richmond Sentinel as his mouthpiece. The Confederate government funds and publishes the London Index in the vain hope that such a paper's propaganda influence will seduce the British workingman, Estimates are that the South placed about 100 correspondents and sketch-artists into the field during the war, the North 300 plus.
Why do they call themselves the "Bohemian Brigade? Most of the men of the pen delighted in referring to themselves by this strange title. Well, there's a story behind that. Away back in 1856, a bright eyed, witty young man named Henry Clapp, Jr. returned from Paris where he had been infatuated with Henri Murger's Scenes de la vie de Boheme. In Pfaff’s Cave, a dim and dusky tavern at 653 Broadway not listed in the guide books, Clapp set himself up as the "King of Bohemia!' and defines his Bohemianism by appointing the glowingly charming Miss Ada Clare as his "Queen." Clapp claims that a true Bohemian should live by his art, spend lots of money, spit upon the prim little gods of Boston, scorn respectability, exalt the devil-may-care, cultivate wit and women, affect a pipe and outlandish peaked cap and consider the world his own. Ada Clare adds that "A Bohemian is not, like the creative of society, a victim of rules and customs, he steps over them all with an easy, graceful, joyous unconsciousness."
The tavern is run by a fat, genial German--Charlie Pfaff--who serves a variety of German delicacies but is most famous for his lager. His unusual patrons sit at a long table in a low-ceilinged inner vault. Walt Whitman says of it "there was as good talk around that table as took place anywhere in the world." The defiant Bohemians enjoy laughing at Clapp's ripostes, hobnobbing with the literati of New York and paying homage to Miss Clare's interpretation of the "New Woman." They resurrect Poe not so much for art's sake but rather to esteem his dissolute life style, his spectacular death and his hate for Boston. In addition to the poet Whitman, others preferring the vault over the coffee houses--where talk is only of women, metaphysics, theater, politics and the polygamy of the Mormons--are Adam Gurowski, the notorious revolutionary; Thomas Aldrich of Vanity Fair; Charles Browne, known as Artemus Ward, Ed Stedman of the New York World, Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who "invented" Santa Claus; William Dean Howells, Charles Halpine, William Church, Charles Webb, Frank Bellow and Bill Swinton of the New York Times.
At the threshold of war in 1861, twenty correspondents co-inhabit six rooms of the hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri. While awaiting news, they play poker, smoke, borrow each others clothes, roughhouse with baggage and bedding. Several were regulars of Pfaff s and, living the proper lifestyle within a military world, styled themselves the "Bohemian Brigade."
Should you wish to acquaint yourself more intimately with these often inadequate, sometimes heroic, always misunderstood soldiers of the quill, I attach here an abbreviated list of sources:
W. Schildt.The Civil War's Bohemian Brigade-Newsmen in Action by Louis M. Starr.
Eyewitness to Gettysburg--Correspondent Charles Carleton Coffin, introduction by John
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