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The National Tribune was the
premier Union veterans’ newspaper of the post-Civil War era. Launched in
1877 by a New York veteran to help his comrades and sway Congress to pass
better pension laws, a short time later the National Tribune began
publishing firsthand accounts penned by the veterans themselves, and did so
for decades thereafter. This rich, overlooked, and underused source of
primary material offers a gold mine of eyewitness accounts of battles,
strategy, tactics, camp life, and much more.
From generals to privates, the paper printed articles and long serials on
everything from major battles such as Gettysburg and Antietam, to arguments
about which battery fired the shot that killed General Leonidas Polk,
whether Grant’s army was surprised at Shiloh, and just about every topic in
between. Unbeknownst to many, a number of Confederate accounts were also
published in the paper. Decades in the making, Dr. Rick Sauers’ unique
multi-volume reference work The National Tribune Civil War Index: A Guide to
the Weekly Newspaper Dedicated to Civil War Veterans, 1877-1943 lists every
article (1877-1943).1638
Scrap Book 1 |
Scrap Book 3 |
