Dowell,—who had, in the vicinity of Bull Run, 30,000 men, of whom only i,6oO were regulars, however,—to move forward, with the result that the North sufiFered the shock of losing the first battle of the Civil War. This calamity, however, was not without its advantages, for it aroused the free states to the fact that a stern conflict confronted them.
Greeley paid, in many ways, for the Tribune's part in bringing about the battle of Bull Run. James Gordon Bennett suggested that he be tried for murder, and a bitter newspaper war ensued. The four important papers, edited by four of the most influential editors in the country—Greeley, Bennett, Raymond, and Bryant—were more bitterly opposed to one another than to the South. Despite their differences, they were all loyal, which was not true of some few minor papers.
The Federal grand jury for the southern district of New York suggested that some of these other New York papers should be indicted. "Their conduct is, of course, condemned and abhorred by all loyal men, but the grand jury will be glad to learn from the Court that they are also subject to indictment and condign punishment."[1]
The bitterness between the Northern factions—Greeley on one side, and Weed, Seward and Raymond on the other—was intensified by the fact that Weed and Seward believed that, by putting the slave issue to the rear, a compromise might be effected with the Sputh, or at least with the border states.
Senator Sumner in Congress, and Secretary Chase in the Cabinet, backed the policy of Gfeeley, who now became the outspoken oracle of what was known as the radical element at the North. While this faction was critical of Lincoln in the beginning, it was critical mainly
- ↑ Appleton's Encyclopedia, iv, 1861, 329.
