Mount Vernon had the opportunity to speak with Todd Andrlik, author and editor of Reporting the Revolutionary War. This award-winning book takes a close look at the impact that newspapers had on the Revolutionary War period.
Your new book, Reporting the Revolutionary War, contains hundreds of high resolution color images of period newspapers that you’ve collected. How did you come to be interested in this subject?
Todd Andrlik: My full-time job is in marketing and media, so I've always had a strong interest in journalism. I randomly stumbled upon 18th century newspapers and how they shaped the American Revolution while researching a historic newspaper for sale at a rare book shop. That one night of discovery triggered a five-year commitment to researching, curating, writing and editing Reporting the Revolutionary War.
What I love most about American Revolution-era newspapers is that they let you see the world as George Washington saw it. When I’m reading about the Battle of Bunker Hill in a Virginia Gazette, I feel like I’m looking over Washington’s shoulders. It is also worth noting that our founding fathers were the first collectors of newspapers because they realized the value of their historical record. “I consider their preservation as a duty,” Thomas Jefferson said.
How were newspapers important to the American Revolution?
Newspapers were absolutely pivotal in making America. As the only mass media at the time, they fanned the flames of rebellion, sustained loyalty to the cause and ultimately aided in the outcome. Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to General Nathaniel Greene during the Revolutionary War that a newspaper “in the present state of affairs would be equal to at least two regiments.” Contemporary historian David Ramsay, who twice served as a delegate in the Continental Congress, wrote that “in establishing American independence, the pen and the press had merit equal to that of the sword.” By allowing the general public unprecedented access to the original papers, this book lets us learn firsthand what many modern historians claim: Without newspapers, there would have been no American Revolution.
Were newspapers of the Revolutionary War era much different from their modern counterparts today?
The average circulation of the top 100 newspapers today is 200,000. In 1775, the average circulation was 600, but papers benefited from an amplified reach because they were often read aloud in meeting houses, coffee houses, taverns and private homes. Today, news is on demand and practically streaming in real time.
Back then, newspapers were printed once a week. A 1776 newspaper tended to be only four pages long and was crammed with content that was days or weeks old, depending on how far the news had to travel on horseback or by ship. Still, the British Empire’s newspaper network was the fastest way of spreading news that the nation had ever seen, and the news was considered fresh when it arrived because it was the latest information colonists had.
Finally, if you think MSNBC and FOX News are notorious for their bickering and biases, media partiality and propaganda were perfected during the American Revolution with Patriot and Loyalist newspapers fighting to keep their respective populations engaged.
Learn More: View the front page of the August 26, 1775 Virginia Gazette
Did General George Washington read newspapers during the war?
Definitely. Washington read newspapers voraciously and understood the immense power of the printed word. Bruce Chadwick, one of 37 historian contributors to Reporting the Revolutionary War, wrote in George Washington’s War (2004) that “The help of the press was another part of Washington’s winter [of 1777] strategy. The general read as many newspapers as he could… he had friends in every major city in the states send him their newspapers and asked anyone scheduled to visit him to bring along the latest editions. He read them to find out how the press and public felt about the army – and him – but also to determine what the British were doing.”
The following winter, Washington received authorization from Congress to fund the publication of the New-Jersey Journal, a completely army-controlled newspaper that served as Washington’s mouthpiece and helped offset the political vitriol from James Rivington’s and James Humphreys’ Loyalist papers being printed in British-occupied New York and Philadelphia. The story of the Journal is well told in Chadwick’s volume. In Reporting the Revolutionary War, general audiences can now experience firsthand the same impressive assortment of war intelligence and public opinion that Washington craved from newspapers.
![The Hour of Victory, by Edward Percy Moran, 1900-1935. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel H. Sheppard, 2006 [M-4535]. (Mark Finkenstaedt)](https://mtv-drupal-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/files/resources/large_di-0707-2_m-4535_march-to-trenton-web.jpg?VersionId=kPLhABwXXSwrDwpnRb6GwPFLApEgsGzb)
How did newspapers get their information during the American Revolution?
This is before paid professional reporters and editors, so typically the printer and his/her confidants (and perhaps apprentices) obtain, sort through and select the content that is typeset for each issue (it took approximately 25 hours to typeset one four-page issue). The top sources of colonial news were other newspapers, private letters from colonists plus oral and written intelligence from ship captains, sailors, merchants, travelers and militia.
During the war, the best source of battle news was the after-action report. Following major actions, commanding officers would summarize the engagement, including details about the dead and wounded, and send it the President of Congress, who would circulate the summary to local newspapers. Those reports would then be printed and reprinted up and down the continent in multiple newspapers. Several after-action reports are featured in Reporting the Revolutionary War with Washington’s own account of crossing the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton perhaps being the most popular. As the book describes, Washington saw most of the action as he raced back and forth through Trenton on his horse with musketballs flying through the air around him. His colorful and explosive letter, which was printed on the front page of the January 23, 1777, Continental Journal (Boston), is written not only to state the facts, but also to drum up Congressional, press and public support for his army. Washington explains the large quantity of ice significantly slowed his crossing of the Delaware, that it was 3 a.m. before the artillery was all over and 4 a.m. before the troops took up their line of march. Washington also writes that the Hessians surrendered because they knew they were about to be “cut to pieces."
Learn More: The Battle of Trenton
How independent and accurate were newspapers during this period? Did editors seek to be partisan and vitriolic?
And what about newspaper coverage of the war in Great Britain?
There is equally tremendous insight and perspective to be gained from British newspapers and the book provides a strong balance of newspaper accounts from both sides of the Atlantic. For instance, through British media we see in 1765-66 how London merchants became pro-American lobbyists fighting Parliament alongside the Sons of Liberty for the repeal of the Stamp Act. We read how the Declaration of Independence was analyzed and questioned offshore. We read how London newspapers reported the battles of Trenton and Princeton, both decisive American victories, in a fashion that would suggest the British won. We read how British papers described John Paul Jones as a pirate and how they thought victory was close at hand until the very end. Also, because British newspapers used the same propaganda tactics as American papers to boost morale and increase support (don’t forget newspapers were the No. 1 propaganda tool), the book goes to great lengths to play referee. To help readers safely digest the primary sources, understand media bias, separate fact and fiction, and bridge centuries, 70 contextual essays by modern historians are sprinkled throughout. Plus, a section at the front of the book contains 15 colonial newspaper reading tips, serving as an 18th century journalism primer.
Do you have any favorite newspapers in your collection?
Arguably the biggest breaking news story of the 18th century was the Battle of Lexington and Concord, so if I had to pick one favorite newspaper I’d probably say the April 21, 1775, New-Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth) with its front-page article and “BLOODY NEWS” headline. It was the only newspaper, of 38 at the time, to use a headline over its first report of the battle (headlines weren’t common or an efficient use of space back then) and one of only two newspapers to print the news on its front page, displacing the typical essays, advertisements or foreign news.
In the days just before and after war erupted, many Boston printers ceased newspaper production and left town. With a lack of Boston news coverage following the “shot heard ‘round the world,” historians writing about the Siege of Boston have long relied most heavily on the newspaper accounts from nearby communities like Portsmouth.
Learn More: View the April 21, 1775 edition of the New Hampshire Gazette
About Todd Andrlik
