Battle Cries

Abstract

Newsboys were among the few civilians who regularly crossed back and forth between home front and battlefront during the Civil War. They were at the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, as well as in prisoner of war camps. In supplying soldiers and sailors with the latest intelligence, newsboys did not just satisfy their hankering for news, but stimulated a feeling of unity and common purpose among combatants in distant theaters of war. Some boys profited handsomely from their work; others lost their lives to it. But all were instrumental in conveying the hazards and fortunes of war to their fellow citizens. Northern newsboys also participated in the New York City draft riots and resisted the wartime repression of Copperhead newspapers. Consequently, they were exposed as war profiteers, arrested as smugglers, and executed as spies. Their experiences illuminate the war’s impact on working-class families and the heightened symbolic power of youth during times of national crisis.