drawal of troops from Richmond was a safe measure. On another occasion he read in the same sheet that the Army of the Potomac was being reinforced by a heavy contingent under Pope. Again he found in a Philadelphia paper an admission of Sherman's failure at Kenesaw Mountain with the extent of his loss and a statement of Federal losses in other engagements. From the Wheeling Intelligencer of January 23, 1865, he learned that ten or fifteen thousand of Thomas's troops were in Bellaire awaiting transportation on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, from which he concluded that Grant was bringing his troops east with the intention of moving upon Richmond at the first favorable opportunity. As indicated by his confidential despatches, it was Lee's custom after reading these papers to pass them on to President Davis, with comments on those items that possessed special interest. At the same time that Lee was reaping the benefit of these disclosures, the leaders of the Northern army were generally quite mystified about his own forces in Virginia. He also appears to have seen through certain misleading statements which were published in Northern papers with the intention of throwing the enemy off the trail.[1]
For a glimpse into the typical methods of journalists in handling military information, one may turn to the accounts bearing on the combined land and sea expedition which left Hampton Roads for Wilmington, N. C., in December, 1864. In the first place the importance of Wilmington as a Confederate base was made thoroughly public by references in Southern and English papers to the extensive commerce of the place, and the large amounts of government property deposited there.[2] These accounts were republished in Northern journals and may well have been of influence in attracting attention to the port as a profitable point of attack. At the time the expedition started the New York Times (of the morning of December 16, 1864) came out with a prominently headed article on the first page. These were the headlines: "Highly important—A new and formidable expedition—Its departure from Fortress Monroe on Tuesday—Where is it going?" Then followed a detailed account from their special correspondent, dated off Cape Henry, December 13. The next day the Tribune editor wrote a teasing editorial, declaring that the secret was as formidable as the expedition and speculating as to whether this pro-administration newspaper would be closed for publishing such highly contraband news. On the 19th the Times published a statement that the fleet had been
