sighted off New Inlet, N. C., and gave a full list of the vessels. The Times articles had given no disclosure of the fleet's destination, the editor facetiously remarking that it was "starting for some point on the rebel coast between Norfolk and Galveston", but the New York Daily News of the 20th gave further details, reporting that the expedition had reached Cape Hatteras on Saturday, that Admiral Porter and General Butler were the commanders, and that an attack on Wilmington was the purpose. On the 22nd the Confederate Secretary of War telegraphed in cipher to Lee declaring that Wilmington was threatened, and might be attacked at any time, and asking Lee to meet the necessity.[1] The exasperation of the Federal Secretary of the Navy, Welles, is shown by an indignant outburst in his Diary in which he declared that the papers were disclosing confidential circumstances pertaining to the expedition which should by no means be made public. The matter was regarded as of sufficient seriousness to merit consideration in cabinet meeting, and the President was in favor of making an example of the offending correspondent, but no arrest seems to have been made, owing to friction between the official heads of the War and Navy departments.[2] By the time the first attack on Wilmington took place, December 24, 1864, the enemy had been amply warned, so that in this unsuccessful engagement and also in the bombardment of January 13 and 14 which resulted in the capture of Fort Fisher, the Union forces were denied the advantage of surprise.
When we turn to a consideration of the Southern press we find something of the same laxness, but there were less serious disclosures of information, partly because of greater discretion, perhaps, on the part of Southern papers, and also because control was stricter and the sum total of newspaper activity far less. As the Confederate papers came frequently within the Union lines, besides being copied in Northern news columns, the information they contained was at all times available to Union generals. Under these circumstances it was recognized that silence was the only feasible policy. Accordingly the publication of newspaper statements as to movements of troops was prohibited, correspondents were ordinarily excluded from the lines, reports of military operations were submitted to the appropriate commanding officer before publication, and severe penalties were enforced against editors who disclosed army secrets or published statements likely to impair confidence in the officers. Warnings and confidential instructions were from time
