Dispatches from the front: The Civil War then and now

Much can be learned when we seek to understand rather than erase history. This is best done by reading first hand accounts from various sides to form our understanding. Writing under a pseudonym, in 1862, a correspondent for the Charleston Daily Courier and a sympathizer of the south, took many risks to provide readers then and for generations to come, a glimpse of the bloody details of one of the battles of the Civil War.

Key Takeaways:

• The Union Army, commanded by Gen. George McClellan, held a huge advantage in terms of numbers, perhaps more than three to one, at Sharpsburg.
• The paper’s correspondent reported in full and exhaustive detail the Battle of Sharpsburg from the perspective of the Confederate side.
• In keeping with a long tradition in the Southern press, his reports, eagerly anticipated and read in Charleston, were signed using a pseudonym.

“In 1862, a correspondent for the Charleston Daily Courier (one of this paper’s antecedents) accompanied the Army of Northern Virginia in the period leading up to the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the battle known in the South as Sharpsburg, and in the North as Antietam.”

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