As a repository for old soldiers’ writings, the National Tribune is unequaled yet remains mostly unused. Indeed, it is so good one might call it the Confederate Veteran for Billy Yank. From 1877 to 1943, the National Tribune served as a compendium for Union veteran reminiscences, war yarns, and postbellum reflections. The firsthand treasure-trove began as an eight-page monthly newspaper in 1881 and within a few years it became a weekly. The Washington-based paper was founded by George E. Lemon, a veteran of the 125th New York. Initially an advocate for Union veteran pensions, the National Tribune hit its stride when it began publishing articles about the war penned by the Northern soldiers themselves. Within three years, John McElroy, a Union veteran with editing experience and the author of a dramatic memoir about his confinement at Andersonville (1879), assumed the reins as managing editor. His keen eye for detail and deep connections elevated the quality and quantity of the content and resulted in the publication of thousands of exclusive firsthand accounts. The National Tribune’s final issue was on December 30, 1943. By that date, the Union veterans who had fought the war were nearly all gone. More than 1,000 items were published on the Atlanta Campaign alone: articles, memoirs, and letters on every topic imaginable sent in by Union soldiers who had followed General Sherman into Georgia in 1864. The first appeared in June 1879 on the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The National Tribune Remembers the Atlanta Campaign, edited by Stephen Davis, offers 70 selections pertaining to the Atlanta Campaign. These entries, coupled Davis’s insightful annotations, advance the cause of Civil War scholarship by bringing back into print an array of some of the most important writing about the conflict penned by the men who fought in it.
