My Life as
Junius Henri Browne
Special Correspondent
New York Tribune
In August of 2002, my son and I embarked upon a new adventure - we enlisted our
services on behalf of those who seek to teach history by living it. Thus
began our lives as Civil War Reenactors. Josh portrays an infantry soldier
in the 9th Kentucky Regiment (US) Volunteer Infantry , Company B, and I portray
the war
correspondent, Junius Henri Browne (1825 - 1902), of the New York Tribune.
As an interesting sidenote, I knew very little about Mr. Browne when I decided
to portray him, but I have since discovered that he was born in the town of
Seneca Falls, NY. I knew my mother's ancestors had a farm in NY and
had always thought their farm was in Waterloo, which is about eight miles from
Seneca Falls, but my father recently confirmed that the farm was actually in a
tiny crossroads a bit closer to Seneca Falls. The name of the crossroads
where the farm was located? – Junius
!!
Browne spent most of his
time during the war in middle and western Tennessee. In the spring of
1863, he was with the flotilla of Commodore Andrew Foote (a distant relative) on
the Mississippi River, and was captured in May of 1863 attempting to run the
rebel batteries off Vicksburg. He spent the next year and a half in
Confederate prisons in Virginia and North Carolina, including Libby Prison in
Richmond and Salisbury Penitentiary, where he spend the majority of that time.
On December 14th 1864, Browne escaped from Salisbury Penitentiary in North
Carolina along with Albert Richardson, also of the Tribune, and made his
way through 400 miles of snow-covered, guerilla-infested Confederate mountain wilderness territory, finally
arriving safely behind Union lines on January 25th 1865 at Strawberry Plains,
Tennessee, near Knoxville. After the war, Browne returned to New York
City, where he published a number of books about New York Society, and related
his experiences during the war in his book, "Four Years in Secessia". I
have placed a few of the more
poignant tales from this book on the "Book Excerpts" page .
The "Photographs" page
contains both actual Civil War photographs and photographs of reenactors, with
descriptions of each photograph and credits where known. Gray-scale and
sepia-tone images were created by men who reenact photographers of the day using
authentic 1860's period camera equipment to produce either ferrotype of
ambrotype images. Color pictures were taken with modern day cameras and
are credited where possible.
The "Dispatches" page
contains several dispatches written by me as reports of battle reenactments and
living history events I have witnessed in portraying my character, Junius Henri
Browne.
A Note of Some Editorial Import:
While I am not entirely insensitive to the need for historical accuracy, I have chosen to enact my impression of Mr. Browne in conjunction with the members of the modern-day 9th Kentucky Regiment (US) Volunteer Infantry, Company B, precisely because I find them to be a most enjoyable, agreeable, and non-judgmental lot. They enjoy a widespread reputation for excellence on the field and are often expressly invited to participate in events. They love the hobby, and they do it for the fun of it. And they have graciously allowed...no, encouraged...me to portray something other than infantry in an infantry unit. Because of my affinity for and affiliation with the 9th KY, there are reports on the Dispatches page, and images on the Photographs page, in which I represent Mr. Browne at battles and in places that the original Mr. Browne was not, or could not have been due to his imprisonment during the latter part of the war.
To those who object to these inaccuracies, I regret your discomfort. To
those who can look past such things to enjoy the broader view, you may consider
my portrayal of Mr. Browne more a celebration of the correspondents of the day
than a detailed recreation of his travels, or travails, as the case may be.
Besides, there is more than one documented account of Civil War correspondents
reporting on battles at which they were not present, including, by his own
admission, Junius H. Browne !