The story of the Sun, New York, 1833-1918 / by Frank M. O'Brien.

188

THE STORY OF "THE SUN"

As a matter of fact, only about eighteen thousand
troops were engaged on each side.
The Sun had no famous correspondents at the front.
It sent three reporters to Virginia in 1861, and these
sent mail stories and some telegraph matter, which was
of value in supplementing the official bulletins, the Associated Press service, the specials from " Nemo " and
"H Hermit," the Sun correspondents in Washington, and
the matter rewritten from the Philadelphia and Western newspapers.
The Sun was still a local paper, with a constituency
hungry for news of the men of the New York regiments.
To the Sun readers the doings of General Meagher, of
the Irish Brigade, or Colonel Michael Corcoran, of the
Sixty-Ninth Regiment, were more important than the
strategic details of a large campaign.
The Sun, like all the Northern papers, was frequently deceived by false reports of Union victories.
Federal troops were in Fredericksburg-on the front
page weeks before they were in it in reality; in Richmond, years too soon. But there was no doubt about
Gettysburg, although the North did not get the news
until the 5th of July. The Sun came out on Monday,
the 6th, with these head-lines:
VICTORY!-INVASION COMES TO GRIEF-LEE
UTTERLY ROUTED-HIS DISASTROUS RETREATALL FEDERAL PRISONERS RECAPTURED-EIGHTEEN THOUSAND PRISONERS CAPTURED-MEANS
OF ESCAPE DESTROYED.
On April 10, 1865, the head-lines were sprinkled with
American flags and cuts of Columbia, and the types
carried the welcome news for which the North had,waited for four long years: