follow up and proclaim to the world the whole thing, and instead of surprising our enemy we find him felling trees and hlocking passages that would without this have been in our possession, and all the real effects of surprise are lost. … The only two really successful military strokes out here have succeeded because of the absence of newspapers or by throwing them off the trail. Halleck had to make a simulated attack on Columbus to prevent the press giving notice of his intended move against Forts Henry and Donelson.[1]
It is no wonder that the general gave the position of emphasis on the concluding page of his Memoirs to a denunciation of newspaper correspondents. They are the "world's gossips", he said,
gradually drifting to the headquarters of some general, who finds it easier to make reputation at home than with his own corps or division. They are also tempted to prophesy events and state facts which, to an enemy, reveal a purpose in time to guard against it. Moreover, they are always bound to see facts colored by the partisan or political character of their own patrons, and thus bring army officers into the political controversies of the day.[2]
By far the most serious count in the indictment against newspapers was their constant revelation of military information. It would seem that the copy for the papers underwent no sifting to eliminate contraband news, for we find casualty lists with full data as to the location of military units, statements of expected reinforcements, revelations of the amount of force commanded by various generals, speculations as to plans, reports of the location and strength of batteries, and many other similar items. An account of Grant's movements, selected at random from the New York Daily News, gives the course of march of a division of cavalry, refers to reinforcements from Meade, and proclaims the assembling of Generals Grant, Meade, and Butler at General Burnside's headquarters.[3] This is but typical of the sort of detailed information which the papers constantly supplied. At the time Lee did not know that Burnside was still with Grant.[4]
In another copy of the same paper one could read that heavy trains were continually running to and from City Point, transporting supplies and forage for men and animals, and that preparations for a permanent occupation of City Point were being pushed.[5] The New York Times of November 10, 1864, published a statement of Sherman's exact strength and of his intended programme. Grant
