Harper, Fletcher (1806-1877) Harper's weekly. [Vol. 5 no. 221 (March 23, 1851)]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04661.05 Author/Creator: Harper, Fletcher (1806-1877) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Newspaper Date: 23 March 1861 Pagination: 16 p. : 40.6 x 29 cm. Order a Copy
The front page of this issue is a drawing of the commanding officers at Fort Sumter, less than a month before an attack on the fort would begin the hostilities of the Civil War. The news focuses on the Union forts that have already been turned over to the South and on Sumter, where a stalemate is underway. There is an illustration of a steam boat. The issue also contains a number of chapters from Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" in their earliest American publication. The story is accompanied by a number of illustrations by John McLenan.
Following the success of Harper's Monthly, Harper's Weekly was first published in 1857 by Fletcher Harper and Harper & Brothers printers. Harper's Weekly was a major newspaper during the Civil War and the years after it, with a readership perhaps as high as half a million people. The paper's political articles and cartoons had a major influence on many Americans during the paper's 56 year run.
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