Wilbur F. Storey

Wilbur F. Storey was a prominent and controversial American newspaper publisher and editor during the mid-19th century, best known for his ownership of the Chicago Times. His aggressive editorial policies and vehement opposition to the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln made his publication a leading voice of the Copperhead movement in the Midwest. Storey's sensationalist journalism, characterized by the motto "print the news and raise hell," significantly influenced the era's partisan press and left a complex legacy regarding freedom of the press and wartime dissent.

Early life and career

Born around 1819 in Poughkeepsie, New York, Storey began his career in the newspaper industry as a young man. He worked as a printer's apprentice and later as a reporter and editor for various publications in New York and Michigan. His early editorial experience included positions at the Detroit Free Press, where he honed a direct and combative writing style. In 1848, he purchased the LaPorte Herald in Indiana, establishing himself as a newspaper proprietor before moving his ambitions to a larger market. This period in the Great Lakes region solidified his understanding of the politically divided landscape that would define his later career.

Ownership of the Chicago Times

Storey moved to Chicago and purchased the struggling Chicago Times in 1861, just as the Civil War began. He rapidly transformed the paper into a financial and editorial powerhouse through a combination of aggressive business tactics, comprehensive news coverage, and sensationalist reporting. Storey invested heavily in the latest printing press technology and established an extensive network of telegraph correspondents to ensure fast reporting of war news. His management style was autocratic, and he demanded that his paper be the first with any major story, often filling its pages with vivid, detailed accounts of battles like the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Gettysburg, regardless of their political content.

Civil War editorial stance

Under Storey's direction, the Chicago Times became one of the most virulently anti-war and anti-Lincoln newspapers in the Union. He was a staunch Democrat and a leader of the Copperhead faction, which opposed the war effort and the Emancipation Proclamation. His editorials routinely denounced President Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant, criticized the Congress, and attacked the Union Army's conduct. This incendiary rhetoric culminated in 1863 when General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, ordered the paper's suppression, an action quickly reversed by President Abraham Lincoln to avoid a political crisis over First Amendment rights.

Later life and death

After the Civil War, Storey continued to publish the Chicago Times, though his influence and the paper's circulation gradually declined. He faced increasing competition from rivals like the Chicago Tribune and struggled with the changing political landscape of Reconstruction. His personal life was marked by tragedy, including the death of his wife, Maria Sheldon, and growing isolation. In his final years, Storey's health deteriorated, and he became largely reclusive. He died in Chicago on October 27, 1884, after which control of the Chicago Times passed to other interests; it later merged with the Chicago Herald to form the Chicago Herald-Times.

Legacy

Wilbur F. Storey's legacy is that of a fiercely independent and deeply controversial figure in American journalism. He is remembered as a pioneer of sensationalist, "news-first" reporting who built a major metropolitan newspaper through sheer force of will. Historians often cite the temporary suppression of the Chicago Times as a key case study in the tensions between civil liberties and military necessity during wartime. While reviled by many of his contemporaries as a traitorous Copperhead, his unwavering defense of his editorial stance also positions him, for some, as a stubborn defender of press freedom against governmental power.

Category:American newspaper publishers (people) Category:1819 births Category:1884 deaths Category:People from Chicago Category:Copperheads (politics)