James Watson Webb (1802-1884) Webb was a colorful editor in a city with a colorful newspaper tradition. “It is part of our national history that editors of that era took themselves and one another seriously. The pen was a lance, the sheet a shield, behind which they…” Abraham Lincoln and New York >

Theodore Tilton (1835-1907) Tilton’s commitment to abolition ran deep. “What was at first, perhaps, only the sympathy of a sensitive boy, abhorring oppression, injustice, and wrong, soon came to be one of the deepest convictions of his nature; and it is not surprising that…” Abraham Lincoln and New York >

Henry J. Raymond (1820-1869) “By far the most interesting member of the legislature was the speaker, Henry J. Raymond,” wrote Chauncey M. Depew, who was a freshmen member of the State Legislature in 1862. The Governor of New York at the time, Edwin D. Morgan described Raymond as “the Speaker of the Assembly as is […]

Manton Marble (1834-1917) Manton was a strong opponent of both emancipation and a strong proponent of limitations on civil liberties such as the suspension of habeas corpus. Although a Democratic house organ, the World stayed mostly clear of the more inflammatory rhetoric of the New York Daily News until the spring of 1864. “Marble deliberately […]

Horace Greeley (1811-1872) Nineteenth century journalist John Russell Young wrote: “Horace Greeley was a leader. To him journalism was not merely a vocation, an honorable means of earning daily bread, but a profession…The selling of news and narrative and literary criticisms, the imparting of precious truths upon…” Abraham Lincoln and New York >

Charles A. Dana (1819-1897) After Dana’s dismissal from the Tribune, the Lincoln Administration found use for his considerable talents as a military troubleshooter. “Having met Charles A. Dana first in the spring of 1863, during the Vicksburg campaign it was my good-fortune to serve with him in…” Abraham Lincoln and New York >

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) William Cullen Bryant was a very serious man. In addition to being the editor of the New York Evening Post, he was one of America’s most distinguished poets. “The thinking of few men of the nineteenth century has been proved by the inexorable unfolding of…” Abraham Lincoln and New York >

John Bigelow (1817-1911) John Bigelow “was a young man of rare accomplishments,” according to historian Allan Nevins. Bigelow was well-traveled, well-read, and well-cultured, he had special entre among England’s and Frances’ elite. For a dozen years before his diplomatic appointment, Bigelow had… Abraham Lincoln and New York >

James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872) Bennett was a publishing phenomenon who could be ignored only at a politician’s peril. According to English journalist Edward Dickey , the Herald was “a power in the country; and though it can do little to make or mar established reputations, yet it has great opportunities of pushing…” Abraham Lincoln and […]

Editors Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote in his diary on August 13, 1864: “The worst specimens of these wretched politicians are in New York City and State, though they are to be found everywhere. There is not an honest, fair-dealing Administration journal in New York City. A majority of them…” Abraham Lincoln and […]