Historic Civil War Newspapers

Harper’s Weekly

Notable Union Figures

• Abraham Lincoln
• Edwin Stanton
• George B. McClellan

• Ulysses S. Grant
• William Sherman
• Winfield Scott

• George Meade
• Ambrose Burnside
• William Rosecrans

Notable Confederate Figures

• Robert E. Lee
• Jefferson Davis
• “Stonewall” Jackson

• P.G.T. Beauregard
• James Longstreet
• Alexander Stephens

• Braxton Bragg
• John Bell Hood
• Nathan B. Forrest

Civil War People & Generals

The Southern States' call for secession from the Union grew louder after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. A disagreement between President Lincoln and Confederate leader Jefferson Davis over control of Fort Sumter led to overwhelming demand for war. Many men began enlisting for military service shortly after the battle of Fort Sumter.

Our vast inventory of genuine, historic Civil War newspapers highlight the efforts of military heroes from the North and the South that we have all come to know, including Ulysses S. Grant, George McClellan, Robert E. Lee, George Meade, "Stonewall" Jackson, William T. Sherman, and more.

Significant Civil War Battles & Events

Battle reports were common, including struggles at Fort Sumter, Bull Run, Manassas, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and so much more.

We have newspapers covering the first shots at Charleston Harbor to the final surrender at Appomattox, plus the Lincoln assassination.

“It had more graphics, many embellishments at the tops of front page columns, and often used larger type in its headings.”

—Tim Hughes, on his favorite title from the Civil War era, the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Southern Illustrated News

The Southern Illustrated News was to the Confederacy what Harper’s Weekly was to the Union. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Southern Illustrated News had a rather ornate masthead and its front pages regularly featured portraits of notable Confederate figures, such as Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, and John S. Mosby. Southern Illustrated remains one of the most sought-after Civil War-era titles in the collecting hobby to date. Visit our Southern Illustrated Pinterest board to view several interesting portraits.

Reporting the Civil War

Before the start of the war, there were 3,725 newspapers in the United States. American newspapers accounted for one-third of all newspapers printed in the world. Most of them were weeklies. At the time, standards for what constituted sound, thorough, and responsible journalism did not exist on the eve of the war, according to Ford Risley, a Civil War journalism expert and head of the Department of Journalism at Penn State University.

Newspapers printed news dispatches, editorials, illustrations, maps, and various other tidbits, such as President Lincoln’s famous letter to Mrs. Bixley "...to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." At times, the dispatches were entirely hearsay and wildly inaccurate, such as this series of short reports from the Daily Journal of Wilmington, NC or this report from the New York Tribune stating that Stonewall Jackson was "Dead Again."

The Reporters

Reporters were a diverse group. Some had previous experience, but many reporters were lawyers, teachers, clerks, bookkeepers, and ministers. Their levels of education ranged from Ivy-league educated to only basic schooling.

Civil War reporters faced many difficulties, among them uncooperative and unreliable sources, difficulties with dispatching reports back to their newspapers, and even death. One correspondent closed a story with "Your readers must pardon a short letter. No man can write in a happy vein or style while minnie [sic] balls are flying uncomfortably close to his head." Needless to say, conditions for Civil War reporters were not safe or ideal. More on how reporters lived and worked can be found here.

Unique Printing and Reporting Conditions

After the Union won the Battle of Memphis in June 1862, the Memphis Daily took to the road and became known as the Moving Appeal. During just a four-year period, this newspaper published in nine different cities.

A truly one-of-a-kind newspaper was "printed on board Steamer Des Moines" on blue-lined ledger paper in 1864. This issue also contains a letter written by a soldier to his wife. Letters from soldier correspondence frequently contained glorified accounts of battlefield glory meant to inspire confidence in the readers back home. Occasionally, letters from soldiers had reliable news and insights.

Most Historic and Significant Civil War Events

• Election of Lincoln (1860)
• Beginning of the Civil War (April 1861)
• Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
• Battle of Gettysburg (turning point in the war)
• Gettysburg Address
• Assassination of Lincoln

Did You Know?

• Pro-Secession newspapers weren't only printed in the South. One example is The Crisis, published in Columbus, Ohio by a Northern sympathizer.
• Though very rare, some newspaper subscription receipts still survive, such as this one from the Charleston Mercury.
• A Richmond Examiner editorial of July 25, 1863 spun Gettysburg as "not a loss; it was only not a victory." The Richmond Examiner also wrote that it was an an insult to King George III to compare Lincoln to him.
• South Carolina's Charleston Mercury Extra was responsible for publishing the first Confederate imprint—a resolution to dissolve the union.
• Most newspapers from the era are still in surprisingly good condition because they were printed on acid-free rag linen, though some were printed on whatever was available, including blue-lined ledger paper.