The New York Herald Reporter who Lived for Two W
Annie Wittenmyer recalls meeting Mr. Brown, a sick New York Herald correspondent, aboard a northbound steamer after Vicksburg’s surrender. Mistaking his flushed face and red eyes for signs of drinking, she avoids him until he begins conversation. Their talk turns to danger, faith, Christian duty, and heaven; Brown declares that he lives for both worlds and is ready for death. The next morning he is found dead of heart disease. Near Helena, he is taken ashore for burial. Wittenmyer writes his mother in Lancaster, Pa., describing his devout final conversation. His sister replies that the family is comforted that his last thoughts were fixed on heaven.
By Annie Wittenmyer · First published 1895 · Genre: Civil War memoir, Religious nonfiction, Inspirational Christian literature · 818 words
First lines
Two weeks after the surrender of Vicksburg, I took passage on a steamer for the North. Just before the boat left the wharf, a gentleman whom I knew came on board in company with a sick friend, whom he introduced as Mr. Brown, "Correspondent of the _New York Herald_. " I was so weary with the scenes of war, with the heat and hard labor which had been the common lot of all workers during the siege, that I did not want to talk to any one, much less to a "_Herald_ reporter. " He was sick, and was going home for a season of rest, so he said. How deceptive appearances are. I set him down at once as a drinking man, because his face was flushed and his eyes red; and I determined to be as unsocial as possible. I did not see him again till evening, when he came back into the ladies' cabin and began social conversation.
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Genres
- Civil War memoir — The narrative is a firsthand recollection set immediately after the Siege of Vicksburg, centering on travel, exhaustion, danger, and the human aftermath of the American Civil War.
- Religious nonfiction — Christian faith, providence, duty, salvation, heaven, and preparation for death are the work's dominant concerns and explicitly shape its interpretation of events.
- Inspirational Christian literature — The account presents the reporter's peaceful, faithful death as a consoling example intended to encourage belief, spiritual reflection, and trust in divine providence.
- Personal reminiscence — Wittenmyer narrates an intimate episode from her own experience, relying on remembered dialogue, observations, emotions, and her later correspondence with the deceased man's family.
Tags
American Civil War · Vicksburg campaign aftermath · Mississippi River steamboat · 1863 · Union wartime travel · war correspondent · New York Herald · illness and sudden death · heart disease · death aboard ship · burial at Helena, Arkansas · Christian faith
What this Textopian page supports
The New York Herald Reporter who Lived for Two Worlds is listed on Textopian as a short story by Annie Wittenmyer, dated 1895 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Annie Wittenmyer
- Date: 1895 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Civil War memoir, Religious nonfiction, Inspirational Christian literature, Personal reminiscence, Biographical sketch
- Length: 818 words
- Structure: 1 section, 17 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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