History: The Civil War - Research Paper Example

Shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected to power, the southern states, being largely democrats, seceded from the union and formed a confederation. The southern states were afraid because the northern states had abolished slavery, yet this formed the backbone of their labor to their farms. This led to full blown hostility when the southern confederacy started attacking the northerners’ union territories. This led to the full blown out war that became the Civil War in the United States (Williams 73-80).

Several newspapers recorded on the progress of the war, from the time it started to the time the confederacy surrendered in 1865. Most of these newspapers reported on the big news and battles that marked the war, as well as the impacts, both large scale and small scale, that were felt by the local people and businesses. When Georgia South Carolina seceded from the union on 20th December 1860, the New York Times reported about it on 21st December 1860 as its headlines. The New York Times reported that South Carolina had not only pulled out of the union, but had also formed a committee to overlook its affairs.

The war began with the attack on Fort Sumter, a military installation in South Carolina on April 12, 1861 by the southerners’ forces. . Kansas was one of the states whose entry into the war was not only the longest, but also among the deadliest. As reported in the Augusta Chronicle of Augusta, Georgia reported in its January 29, 1861 issue, Kansas was admitted to the Union led by northerners on 28th January 1861. The differences between the pro and anti union supporters in the state are the reason Kansa battles stayed for long.

Tennessee was the last state to secede from the union in order to join the confederacy (Bradford 101).On 8th June 1861; Tennessee’s residents went to a referendum in which they voted for secession from the Union. This piece of news was published in the Daily National Intelligencer in Washington, D.C. on June 18, 1861. In the beginning of the civil war in 1861, there were several battles fought and won or lost by either side. The first major battle of the war after the attack on Fort Sumter was The First Battle of Bull Run, which was fought on July 21, 1861, at Bull Run creek near Manassas in Virginia.

Lowell Daily Citizen and News in Massachusetts carried the story of the battle in its July 19, 1861 issue. However, this battle mostly caught the attention of the press because of the indiscipline exhibited by burning and looting that was apparent in the Union’s northern soldiers. The southerners won this first battle against the northerners, news that was not received well by people of the northern states. However, some Northern state Newspapers rushed to end the suspense of not knowing the result of the battle earlier by publishing unconfirmed reports of the Northerners’ victory in the battle at Manassas.

One such report was by the New York Herald’s July 22 1861 issues, which misled the people of New York about the Union’s