Taking Account
Like many newspapers of the time, the Richmond Whig provided daily casualty reports of state regiments. It took multiple issues to report casualties for the first Battle of Cold Harbor (Gaines’ Mill) on June 27, 1862. Although a victory for Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee, the battle was costly for several Virginia companies, some losing more than half of their members. Anxious families turned to their local daily newspaper for the most recent word of loved ones engaged in combat. Newspapers often received the list of killed in action and wounded well in advance of next of kin. Their sorrow was likely compounded by the knowledge that those killed in battle might not be returned home for burial but were instead interred in mass graves on or near the battlefield.
Like many newspapers of the time, the <em>Richmond Whig</em> provided daily casualty reports of state regiments. It took multiple issues to report casualties for the first Battle of Cold Harbor (Gaines’ Mill) on June 27, 1862. Although a victory for Confederate troops under General Robert E. Lee, the battle was costly for several Virginia companies, some losing more than half of their members. Anxious families turned to their local daily newspaper for the most recent word of loved ones engaged in combat. Newspapers often received the list of killed in action and wounded well in advance of next of kin. Their sorrow was likely compounded by the knowledge that those killed in battle might not be returned home for burial but were instead interred in mass graves on or near the battlefield.