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Go West, young man...



Item # 596170

July 13, 1865

NEW YORK TRIBUNE, July 13, 1865 

* Horace Greeley & go west, young man

There has been some dispute, however general consensus is that Horace Greeley was the first to use the oft-cited phrase "Go West, young man...". There are many, many citations on the internet that Greeley used this phrase in his July 13, 1865 editorial. Here is the Tribune of that date and I've scoured through the issue yet never found the quote. The closest I could come is in "The Homstead Law" article, page 4 column 4, where he mentioned: "...We earnestly urge upon all such to turn their faces Westward and colonize the public lands...". It would be a horrible corruption to turn that comment into "Go West, young man". See our blog post for more information on this interesting bit of Western trivia.
Unless someone can step forward with solid evidence that "Go West, young man" appears in this or any other issue of Greeley's Tribune, I will chalk this one up to false information being considered true "because someone else said so" but which has no basis in fact.
Page 4 also has: "Ford--Stanton" which concerns Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. and connection to the Lincoln assassination (see). And the front page has: "The Freedmen's Bureau" (see).
Complete in 8 pages, very nice condition.

Category: Post-Civil War