Newspaper

Newspapers have always fulfilled the role of communicating local and world news to a broader population. Throughout the Civil War, regional newspapers took the responsibility for reporting the positions of the military battalions, describing the victories or defeats faced by each army, and updating the people about the status of their loved ones. As the war continued, illustrated newspapers became increasingly more useful. “The apparent economic advantages of illustrated journalism spurred several urban daily newspapers to begin printing war-related maps at the onset of the conflict” (Bosse, 6). The newspapers that used images and maps were naturally more appealing to readers and were more widely circulated, therefore being even more profitable to the publishing companies. “Maps added visual interest to the dense, unbroken text of Civil War-era newspapers and presumably attracted readers” (Bosse, 6).