In the 1850s, the American press played a significant role during the Civil War. This war was one of the most illustrated wars in history, thanks to the publications of newspapers and magazines. George W. Smalley As war spread spread across America, so did the spread of journalists. War reporting required journalists to rely on telegraphs, railroads, and horses. Unlike today, journalists had to go to extremes in order to get information to write about. For example, a writer for New York Tribune, George W. Smalley, who was unable to get access to a telegraph hand-wrote the story of the Battle of Antietam in 1862 on a military train from Baltimore to New York. The next day this story covered the streets of New York. The Telegraph The invention of the telegraph in 1844 was a monumental for the world of journalism. This invention allowed journalists to quickly edit and publish work, this became the first instance of timely news. Telegraph operators charged by the word, therefore