pondents who on land and
sea should follow our armies and fleets, and utilize horse, rail car,
and telegraph, boat, yacht, and steamer, without regard to expense,
had not seized upon newspaper publishers in the Eastern States. Almost
from the first, the great New York journals organized bureaus for the
collection of news. With relays of stenographers, telegraphers, and
extra printers, they were ready for all emergencies in the home
office, besides liberally endowing their agencies at Washington and
cities near the front, and equipping their correspondent, in camp and
on deck. In this, the New England publishers were far behind those on
Manhattan Island. Carleton, when in Washington, wrote his first
letters to the Boston _Journal_ and took the risk of their being
accepted for publication. He visited the camps, forts, and places of
storage of government material. He described the preparations for war
and life in Washington with such spirit and graphic power, that from
June 15 to July 17, 1861, no fewer than twenty-one of his letters were
published in the _Journal_.

The great battle of Bull Run gave him his opportunity. As an
eye-witness, his opportunity was one to be coveted. He wrote out so
full, so clear, and so interesting an account, that the proprietors of
the _Journal_ engaged him as their regular correspondent at a salary
of twenty-five dollars a week, with extra allowance for
transportation. His instructions were to "keep the _Journal_ at the
front. Use all means for obtaining and transmitting important
information, regardless of expense." This, however, was not to be
interpreted to mean that he should have assistants or be the head of
a bureau or relay of men, as in the case of the chief correspondent of
at least three of the New York newspapers. It meant that he was to
gather and transmit the news and be the whole bureau and staff in
himself. Nevertheless, during most of the war, the Boston _Journal_
was the only New England paper that kept a regular correspondent
permanently not only in Washington, but at the seat of war. Carleton
in several signal instances sent news of most important movements and
victories ahead of any other Northern correspondent. He achieved a
succession of what newspaper men call "beats." In those days, on
account of the great expense, the telegraph was used only for
summaries of news, and rarely, if ever, for long despatches or
letters. The ideas and practice of newspaper managers have