Civil War Era Newsprints

Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper (1855) and Harper's Weekly (1857) were two of the first illustrated newspapers to appear in the United States, beginning in the 1850s. Though both papers experienced issues financially during their first years in business, the Civil War catapulted them to commercial success as readers were increasingly eager for news of the war. The papers' pictorial style made it possible to deliver images of the war into the homes of their readers by dispatching artists to follow armies and sketch battles, encampments, and other events of interest. These sketches were then converted by engravers into woodblock engravings for mass printing.

Despite initial attempts to cover events in a nonpartisan manner and avoid the issue of slavery altogether, both Leslie's and Harper's eventually assumed a pro-Union stance as the Civil War progressed. They supported emancipation and the recruitment of black troops, and reported on the brutality of slavery. One particular article published in Harper's titled, "A Typical Negro" (July 4, 1863), shocked northern readers and outraged the southern press for its illustrations of the whip-scarred back of a formerly enslaved man named Gordon.