War News Coverage and the Lack Thereof

"Unlike the Civil War, which had been covered by hundreds of correspondents from papers around the country, the Indian wars were covered haphazardly by a small group sent from newspapers that were willing and able to hire reporters to cover the fighting. Only two major newspapers, the Chicago Times and the New York Herald, regularly covered the Indian campaigns between 1867 and 1881. The majority of newspapers were content to rely on wire reports or "exchanges" of stories with the newspapers that had correspondents at the front. Many newspapers also used freelancers and sometimes army officers. Custer himself actually contributed stories to the New York Herald" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 32).