Discussing the Atlanta Campaign (with Dave Powell)

160 years ago, William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston were squaring off in northeast Georgia as Sherman's armies drove into the heart of the Deep South. The Atlanta Campaign would prove decisive to the Civil War's outcome. Historian David Powell is chronicling that campaign in his latest body of work and joins the Emerging Civil War Podcast to discuss.
This episode of the Emerging Civil War Podcast is brought to you by Civil War Trails, the world’s largest open-air museum, offering more than 1,500 sites across six states. Request a brochure at civilwartrails.org to start planning your trip today.

[@bryanwiedeman3154]

Dave the Delta Force of Civil War history

[@fatfeline1086]

But were not the newspapers highly partisan back then with most if not all associated with one or another political party? why would you think they are reliable? it is naive to think a soldier's letter would not be embellished if not made up entirely, perhaps greatly so. what the papers published about Shiloh is an extreme case that proves the point, with headlines like "Buel dead" and Sherman's hand blown off" among many others.

[@emergingcivilwar8965]

Civil War newspapers were notoriously unreliable because of the rush to get news first over getting it right. And yes, they all had political slants which editorialized the news even as they printed it. Subsequent news reports were usually more accurate than initial ones, as reporters had the chance to understand things better and have more information once the smoke cleared.
Soldiers letters are different from the reports sent by the news correspondents. They offer a wonderful "soldier's-view" perspective of events. They might not see or understand the grand scope of events, but they offer invaluable snapshots into daily life, individual observations and reactions, and a good thermometer for things among the common men.