Wartime Newspaper Articles

During the course of the war, the Detroit newspapers frequently reported on the activities of the 24th. Chaplain Way was an occasional correspondent of the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune. Sullivan D. Green, meanwhile, was a regular correspondent of the Detroit Free Press. There was an interesting political dynamic. Some of the men, Colonel Morrow and Sullivan D. Green, were staunch Democrats, while others, including Lt. Colonel Flanigan and Chaplain Way, were Republican. These political differences were reflected in the way each paper covered the regiment. According to Woodford (p. 256):

The Detroit Advertiser , Michigan's most vociferous Republican newspaper, strongly supported the Lincoln administration and its war policy throughout the conflict. The Detroit Free Press, the Michigan organ of the Democratic Party, followed a policy of supporting the government, but being critical of the administration. At the beginning, the Free Press felt the war was unnecessary and a great evil. But by May 11, 1861, it had become reconciled to the fact that there was no alternative but to fight, and it stated that "two confederacies will never live in peace between the Great Lakes and the Mexican Gulf. The American people must recognize the fact now. There will be only one government south of the St. Lawrence."

Although Smith relied heavily on newspaper accounts for his history of the 24th, there remain many interesting incidents not included in his work. The process of transcribing and typing the Detroit papers is an on-going project, but I eventually hope to have all of the pertinent articles available online.

The Monroe and Ann Arbor newspapers should also have contained material of interest. As time permits, I will investigate these sources. Presumably the other small newspapers in Wayne County (including one in Plymouth) would also have had occasionally coverage. To date no war-time issues of these smaller papers has been located.