text assets/images/thmbs/intro.gif Illustrated Newspapers

The American Civil War was the first major conflict covered extensively by visual media. In the first half of the nineteenth century the only way to print images in publications was to use wood engravings. Wood engraving required the use of a graver and chisel to cut away wood to leave fine lines that created shapes and tones, a time-consuming process that left no room for error. In London in the 1840s, publishers perfected a technique that allowed wood engravings to be finished and printed quickly by splitting the work among several engravers and piecing the woodblocks together for printing. This process came to the U.S. a decade later, and two major illustrated papers, Harper's Weekly and Frank

]]> Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper emerged by the late 1850s. These gathered national audiences and were perfectly positioned to cover the Civil War in 1861. Each hired a number of artist-reporters, the predecessors of photojournalists, to draw scenes from the war.

Newspapers in the War

Traditional newspapers remained influential during the war, even as presses in the South were routinely confiscated and/or burned by both sides. Editors continued to gain personal prestige and respect as drivers of state politics, a role that earned many of them high political office later in the century. William W. Holden, editor of the North Carolina Standard, helped lead the peace movement in the state

]]> during the Civil War and became its provisional governor after the war. This section will also discuss the role of traditional newspapers during this time.

North Carolina's Press

Raleigh became the center of the state's press when it became the state's capital in 1791. During the Civil War it was the epicenter of conflicts between disagreeing editors. We will look at one of these conflicts in depth in this section. Remember that while Harper's Weekly's images were a critical part of the American press, northern publications were generally not available in the South during the war.

Click on the thumbnails above to view the materials for this section.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1862-holden.gif William W. Holden, editor of the Raleigh North Carolina Standard, sent this letter in reply to a subscriber's request for a discount on the subscription price.

The Civil War was economically devastating, especially in the South. This letter illustrates the financial hardship the conflict brought on everyone. Holden thanks the subscriber for his interest in the Standard and offers to send him a free copy of the paper; but he informs the man that "we cannot afford in these war times to make any deduction on the price of the paper" at the conclusion of the letter. It was common for editors to contact subscribers directly like this at the time.

]]> assets/images/1862-holden.jpg entire letter (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Holden, William W. to an unnamed subscriber, 1862. Date unknown. [P.C. 65] William W. Holden Collection, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1862-fortmacon.gif Fort Macon, completed in 1834, was designed to protect Beaufort Harbor, the state's only major deepwater ocean port. It was built on the site of an earlier masonry fort used during the War of 1812 and abandoned shortly thereafter. At the beginning of the war, North Carolina took over the fort, but Union forces recaptured it in early 1862.

This image is an engraving that appeared in Harper's Weekly during the war. These publications employed artist-reporters, the predecessors of photojounralists, to create drawings that could be translated into wood engravings and printed. All of the tones in this image are created by fine linework.

]]> assets/images/1862-fortmacon.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Wiser, A. "Fort Macon Repossessed," 1862. Harper's Weekly, May 17. Courtesy of the Beaufort Historical Association. Negatives Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.70.9.148.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1863-effect-procl.gif This is an engraving printed in Harper's Weekly following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Harper's remained moderate before the war on the topic of slavery, which meant that it rarely discussed it. With a nearly national audience, the magazine could not afford to take a side in such a polarizing issue.

When the war started, however, the magazine sided with the Union and covered the war extensively, including support of the abolition movement. This illustration shows newly freed slaves on the road alongside a Union army caravan moving through New Bern. some of the wagons' passengers are also freed slaves riding with the army.

]]> assets/images/1863-effect-procl.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. "The Effects of the Proclamation." 1863. Harper's Weekly, February 21. Negatives Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.53.16.5304-B.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1863-statejournal-0831.gif The Raleigh State Journal, a strong supporter of the Confederacy, ran this letter to the editor from a North Carolina private on August 31, 1863. Nearly the entire page is devoted to decrying W. W. Holden's Raleigh Standard for its role in the growing peace movement. Holden was blamed exclusively for questions regarding North Carolina's loyalty to the South.

On September 9, 1863, Confederate troops from Georgia may have been following this private's suggestion to "mob [Holden] and burn up his office" when they destroyed the Standard's press. Holden's supporters burned the State Journal's office the next night.

]]> assets/images/1863-statejournal-0831.gif entire page (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. State Journal (Raleigh, NC). 1863. August 31. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number RaSJd-1.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1863-statejournal-0905.gif Part of the uproar concerning the Standard and the State Journal in Raleigh was one of the few editorial positions both papers actually had in common: that editors and other key people in the newspaper industry should be exempt from the draft. Both believed that editors could do more good by running a press instead of carrying a rifle.

Others disagreed. In this excerpt, the State Journal's editor accuses Governor Zebulon Vance of trying to shut down the entire press in the state by drafting editors. There is no evidence that this is the case. The Journal was loyal to the Confederate cause, and it would have been in Vance's interest to allow it to continue.

]]> assets/images/1863-statejournal-0905.jpg entire column (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. State Journal (Raleigh, NC). 1863. September 5. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number RaSJd-1.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1863-burnings.gif This is the postscript of a letter T.J. Young, a Confederate soldier, sent to his father. It refers to the destruction of two newspaper offices in Raleigh during the war. Young disapproved of the action and both editors, writing that they should both "be in the field."

Confederate troops from Georgia destroyed the Standard's press when they entered Raleigh in the summer of 1863. Holden's supporters burned down the State Journal's office in retaliation. The anger Holden's editorial policies provoked demonstrates how influential traditional newspapers and their editors remained in American society even after the advent of nationally circulated illustrated periodicals.

]]> assets/images/1863-burnings.jpg entire letter (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Young, T.J. to his father, September 16, 1863. [P.C. 21.7] Miscellaneous Papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1863-standard-1002.gif W. W. Holden's Standard was an advocate of the peace movement and a vocal critic of Confederate policy, an editorial policy that earned it few friends in the Confederacy.

In September 1863, Confederate troops from Georgia mobbed the Standard's office, destroying its press. The Standard's followers destroyed the State Journal's office in retaliation, although there is no evidence that Holden supported that course of action. In this excerpt, he blames other prominent newspapers in the region for instigating the "mob spirit" that led to the destruction of both presses. This episode highlights the power of the press to sway public opinion.

]]> assets/images/1863-standard-1002.gif entire issue (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. The North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, NC). 1863. October 2. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number RaSTDsw13.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1864-liberate.gif This is an engraving printed in the January 23, 1864 Harper's Weekly. Brigadier General Edward A. Wild was sent in April 1863 to recruit black troops in North Carolina. He formed the first volunteer unit by winter of that year - the "African Brigade."

The event depicted in this image probably took place as Wild marched through the Great Dismal Swamp on orders to free slaves in late 1863. Support for black troops was much lower than support for emancipation in the North; most of the North believed blacks should be free but not necessarily equal. UNC's North Carolina Collection has a tinted version of this image available online.

]]> assets/images/1864-liberate.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. "Colored Troops, Under General Wild, Liberating Slaves in North Carolina." 1864. Harper's Weekly, January 23. Negatives Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.53.16.5308-B

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1864-holden-1.gif This is the end of a letter William W. Holden, editor of the Raleigh North Carolina Standard and 1864 gubernatorial candidate, wrote accusing the Confederate Army of suppressing the votes of his supporters in favor of incumbent Governor Zebluon Vance. After the war, Holden was appointed provisional governor.

The Standard was initially a Democratic paper that, like a lot of North Carolinians, favored the Union until President Lincoln asked the state to supply troops after fighting broke out in April 1861. Holden soon began criticizing both the Confederacy's policies, and he became a leader in the state's strong peace movement.

]]> assets/images/1864-holden-1.jpg entire letter (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Holden, William W. to unknown recipient, July 29, 1864. [P.C. 65] William W. Holden Collection, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1866-emanc.gif This is an 1867 Harper's Weekly political cartoon questioning how effective Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was. It includes two clippings from newspapers telling of African-Americans convicted of crimes being sold and whipped as punishments. The illustrations show these punishments carried out at a statute personifying Liberty. The emblem at the bottom center is a skeleton holding an auctioneer's gavel and a whip under the caption "States' Rights."

The artist portrays Liberty and Justice as blind to the plight of the newly freed African-American, tragically anticipating the Jim Crow period following the end of Reconstruction.

]]> assets/images/1866-emanc.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. "'Slavery is Dead'(?)" 1867. Harper's Weekly, January 12. Negatives Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.83.11.35.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1867-harpersad.gif This is an advertisement for Harper's Weekly that ran in the Raleigh Standard in the winter of 1867. Subscription prices and postage information follow this excerpt, including information for postage to Canada.

After the Civil War, Harper's Weekly remained one of the most popular and influential publications until technology advanced enough to allow cheap reproduction of photographs in newspapers at the turn of the century. It was published weekly from 1857 through 1912 and had a nationwide audience. It was politically active; for example, its political cartoons played a large role in ending the Tammany Hall machine in New York City.

]]> assets/images/1867-harpersad.gif entire ad (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Advertisement. 1867. The North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, NC). November 14. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number RaSTDsw15.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1868-toholden-2.gif This is an excerpt from a letter Republican leaders in Bladen County sent to the newly elected Governor Holden. The main purpose of the letter is to suggest who the governor might appoint as Justices of the Peace in the county, but this excerpt discusses the tone of the 1868 gubernatorial campaign in the county.

Name-calling and mudslinging in political campaigns were common in this election, only the second after the conclusion of the Civil War; but the aftermath of the war created a host of new nicknames and mud to sling. Holden was one of North Carolina's six Republican governors and the only N.C. governor to ever be impeached.

]]> assets/images/1868-toholden-2.jpg entire letter (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. McDonald, A.J.M., Alex McDonald, James R. Mcdonald, Alexander Hodge, and John W. McDonald to William W. Holden, May 16, 1868. [P.C. 65] William W. Holden Collection, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1879-moonshine.gif This is part of an 1879 Harper's Weekly engraving commenting on the great influence of moonshine, or illegally distilled whiskey, in western North Carolina. After the Civil War, U.S. Marshals assisted Internal Revenue agents in enforcing the whiskey tax laws - something not very popular with anyone in North Carolina. This attitude was also reflected in the state courts, as seen in this political cartoon.

Alcohol has always been a key part of the American economy and taxing it has always been a contentious issue. Throughout the ninteenth century, but especially after the Civil War, making alcohol illegal was one of the goals of social reformers.

]]> assets/images/1879-moonshine.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Taylor, F.H. "Law and Moonshine - Crooked Whiskey in Western North Carolina." 1879. Harper's Weekly, August 23. Negatives Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.66.7.90.

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